Mercedes-Benz has started construction of its first plant in Poland which will make I4 engines. The automaker reportedly considered a site in Romania, where it makes transmissions, but logistics considerations gave Poland the nod instead.
"The new engine plant in Poland is a key element in the growth strategy of Mercedes-Benz Cars. With the new site in Jawor, we are ensuring the efficient supply of our vehicle plants with highly efficient engines," said Markus Schäfer, head of Mercedes-Benz Cars' manufacturing and supply chain.
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"We are aligning our global production network towards the future and show that we are able to do both sprint and marathon: due to high global demand, we will be producing conventional engines for hybrid vehicles and combustion engines in increasing quantities and at the same time we are preparing our production network for electric mobility in the long term."
The site, an area of around 50 hectares, will be the second Mercedes car engine plant outside Germany (the other is in China). Daimler is spending EUR500m there to make four cylinder engines; around 500 jobs will be created.
Daimler will train Polish workers at its main engine plant in Untertürkheim and some Germans will be assigned to the site to assist.
The engine plant is expected to combine the latest sector standards with Industry 4.0 and act as a benchmark for engine production. Digitisation potentials will also be exploited with app-based applications in the areas of personnel and energy management. Responsive production systems are also expected to enable a flexible approach to production, thus making it possible to produce different engine variants on the same line.
The Jawor site is also expected to set standards in the area of resource saving production processes: together with energy suppliers and local authorities, solutions for CO2 neutral engine production are being developed through the use of wind power, solar energy or biogas applications.
