Mercedes-Benz’s Hungarian plant rolls out its 500,000th car in less than 4 years

Mercedes-Benz’s plant in in Kecskemét, Hungary, today rolled out its landmark 500,000th vehicle off the production line since the plant opening on 29 March 2012.

"The Mercedes-Benz plant Kecskemét, together with the lead plant in Rastatt, Germany, makes an important contribution to growth in our compact-car segment. In Kecskemét, with the CLA and the CLA Shooting Brake, we produce two models exclusively for the world market," said Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management. To celebrate the production anniversary, the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán visited the plant.

The 500,000^th passenger car from Kecskemét is a cosmos black CLA, which is going to a Hungarian customer. "The production anniversary is a success achieved together by our workforce of over 4,000 people. Our qualified experts and dedicated employees produce passenger cars in top-quality. The Mercedes-Benz plant Kecskemét continues to have a very good perspective with its successful products. We are planning to further develop the location on a continuous basis. Currently, 15 million euros are invested in an innovative logistic concept," said Christian Wolff, who has been CEO and Site Manager of Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary since 1 January 2016.

The Kecskemét plant produces the B-Class, the CLA and the CLA Shooting Brake. The CLA and the CLA Shooting Brake are produced exclusively in Kecskemét for all markets worldwide. "We are proud to state that the Mercedes-Benz models from Kecskemét with their innovative technologies are already sold in more than 180 countries. These models are likewise extremely popular in Hungary. Year after year, more and more domestic customers are choosing to buy passenger cars produced at this location," states Jörg Schmidt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Hungária Kft.

The Mercedes-Benz plant Kecskemét is part of the compact-car production network within the global, flexible and efficient Mercedes-Benz Cars production compound. In addition to Kecskemét, the compact-car network includes the lead plant in Rastatt (Germany) and BBAC in Beijing (China), where the GLA compact SUV is produced for the Chinese market. Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz Cars uses the Finnish contract manufacturer Valmet Automotive to produce additional A-Class models. Thanks to the shared compact-car architecture, each location can build all models in any sequence and any number, thus ensuring that the volumes can be distributed around the network flexibly and efficiently in line with current market demand. Last year, the plant Kecskemét produced over 183,000 passenger cars.

Innovative logistics concept
The Kecskemét site is currently investing 15 million euros in an innovative logistics concept. The plant's logistics hall is being expanded considerably to supply parts directly to the production line. This expansion is greatly influenced by the digital transformation: the new shopping cart-based logistics system has brought about visible changes in the plant's assembly section as there are now no shelves filled with boxes and parts to be seen anywhere on the production line. The associated logistical supply processes have likewise changed almost beyond recognition: the previous transport routes became free, and driverless transport systems take the shopping carts from the picking zone in the logistics centre to the assembly line automatically. Here the employees remove the parts from the shopping cart at the relevant workstations and install them in the vehicles. Consequently, the load carriers previously required in the production area are no longer necessary. Ergonomically designed break-time areas are being set up for the employees in the now free zones. Construction work commenced in early 2016, with completion scheduled for mid-2016.