Tognum expands production network

• Investments to provide basis for profitable growth
• Friedrichshafen designated lead plant in global production network
• New facility in Eastern Europe for component manufacture

Friedrichshafen, 21 March 2011. The specialist for propulsion and power solutions Tognum is expanding its production capacity in Europe. Tognum is to invest several million euros in the next few years in the lead plant in Friedrichshafen and in a new facility in Eastern Europe, in order to bring its production and assembly capacity in line with the significant growth expected in the years ahead. The investments, which were recently approved by the Supervisory Board, are the result of a European production network strategy that has been developed in the course of the last few months for the mtu und mtu Onsite Energy brands.
“Our new products that feature significantly reduced emissions and significantly lower fuel consumption are expected to generate high-volume demand on world markets. We are also convinced that, with these products, which are already setting standards, we will continue to grow faster than the market,“ says Tognum CEO Volker Heuer. “This means that we have to create the conditions today that will enable us to manufacture the number of engines and systems we expect tomorrow.”
“As part of our strategy of regional expansion, we will now be placing greater focus on Europe and our lead plant in Friedrichshafen,“ explained Dr. Ulrich Dohle, the member of the Tognum Executive Board responsible for Technology & Operations.
Friedrichshafen will retain its lead plant status within the global production network and focus on research, development and production. As soon as the Materials Management Centre in Kluftern, which is currently under construction, goes into operation, the two plants on Lake Constance will start to gear up for the future increase in production volume. Space that becomes available in the company will be used for this purpose.
Tognum is also planning to set up a new production facility in Eastern Europe, where primarily crankcases for the Series 2000 engines and selected parts for our commercial engine series will be manufactured in large quantities commencing in 2013. The future plant is to supply components to the assembly lines in Germany, China and the USA. “Production capacity at the Friedrichshafen plants cannot be increased to meet the required volume,“ says Dr. Ulrich Dohle. Production in Eastern Europe offers Tognum benefits in terms of both costs and logistics. “This is what we need to compete successfully in an increasingly tough marketplace. In the lead plant in Friedrichshafen, our intention is to make targeted use of the competence and know-how of the workforce for particularly challenging tasks,“ Dr. Ulrich Dohle emphasised. For this reason, the size of the workforce will remain unchanged.