The Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and thyssenkrupp started a joint development twenty years ago. Three PhD students were asked by the German company to prepare the working model of an electromechanical steering system. The system was ready in a couple of months and was presented in December in a stadium’s parking lot in Eschen, the hometown of thyssenkrupp Steering business unit. From then on, the work continued officially, the result of which is the E/E (electrical and electronic) competence centre in Budapest, which employs more than 900 highly qualified engineers today and is regarded as unique even in thyssenkrupp. The competence centre is considered to be one of the best of its kind in the world and assembles steering systems for the world’s greatest car factories, such as BMW, Daimler, and SGMW, the Chinese joint venture of General Motors. thyssenkrupp celebrated the 20th anniversary where it all began – at the university.
Category: News
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thyssenkrupp’s factory in Pécs will be able to work on a full capacity already in 2022
On the 2nd of October, 2019 Dr. Palkovics László, minister for innovation and technology, Páva Zsolt, mayor of Pécs, Marc De Bastos Eckstein, managing director of thyssenkrupp Components Technology Hungary Kft. and Sven Sitte, the plant manager of the camshafts factory for Jászfényszaru did the first, symbolic dig at the construction site of the new motor component plant of the German company in Pécs, and by that, the works of the automotive greenfield development of more than 17 billion HUF have commenced. High efficiency camshafts and electric motor components will be manufactured in the plant. The plant will already be completed next year, and the serial production is expected to start in 2020. Approximately two hundred jobs will be created directly by the new manufacturing facility.
“In our state of the art factories operating in accordance with Industry 4.0 standards, not only the product but also the method of manufacturing is world-class. thyssenkrupp as a whole is prepared for the changes in the automotive industry, such as for the increasing market share of electric vehicles, and we are able to respond quickly and flexibly to market trends. In the past few years, we have not only invested in the most up-to-date plants, but also in expanding our development activities” – noted Marc De Bastos Eckstein, managing director of the automotive segment of thyssenkrupp for Hungary.
thyssenkrupp counts on the city and on its residents since the beginning, and aims to employ as many local professionals, companies and contractors as possible. In the first step they are looking for a contractor for building the plant, but soon there will be opportunities for suppliers in other areas, too. The company has already started the recruitment: the selection of the managers of the new plant has started, and from the beginning of next year the recruitment will take place from the operator level up to the mid-level management. The production will ramp-up to full capacity for 2022, approximately 200 employees will be gradually recruited by then.
thyssenkrupp is the most intensive industrial and technological investor in Hungary: over the past three years, on four sites the company has invested of the value of nearly HUF 50 billion in the automotive supplier field in the country. In addition to the building of the plant in Pécs, the competence centre in Budapest is also continuously expanding. In addition to development, the company is also engaged in manufacturing and assembly work in Hungary: In Jászfényszaru, electromechanical steering servos and cylinder-head modules with integrated camshafts are produced, whereas in Debrecen springs and stabilizers are manufactured by the company. A chassis assembly plant and a Steel Service Centre are in operation in Győr.
The success story of the automotive segment of thyssenkrupp began exactly twenty years ago in Hungary, when Hungarian engineers in cooperation with thyssenkrupp started to develop electromechanical steering systems. Currently, the company has almost 2000 employees in Hungary.
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Grand Prize for thyssenkrupp at Jász Expo
We participated in Jász Expo, the biggest economic exhibition of the Jászság this year, as well. At the opening ceremony of the event held in Jászberény, thyssenkrupp, the largest employer of the region received the Grand Prize of the Expo in recognition of its economic role, innovation and its corporate social responsibility activities. The award was handed over to Marc De Bastos Eckstein, Executive Director of thyssenkrupp by Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The award is also the recognition of the work of our colleagues in Jászfényszaru!
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Larger development labs and agile software development environment: thyssenkrupp’s Budapest-based E/E Competence Centre moves to a new location
The Budapest-based E/E (electrical and electronic) Competence Centre of thyssenkrupp, a unique establishment even within the company itself, is moving to a larger site, the South Buda Business Park located in the 11th district of South Buda, due to the company’s continued expansion. The automotive development centre, which employs nearly 900 highly qualified engineers, was founded 20 years ago by thyssenkrupp and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics to implement a Hungarian idea. During the development project, a “smart” electromechanical steering servo has been developed, which is more reliable, less energy consuming than conventional servos and is capable of working with a wide variety of driver assistance or autonomous driving systems. Today, new applications are also being developed, such as steer-by-wire (a solution that provides solely electronic connections instead of mechanical ones) or own self-driving systems. Within a few years, the Centre has become an international leader and is today ranked among the best worldwide in its field.
“This change marks a significant milestone in our lives: when I came to Hungary, we had barely forty employees at the Development Centre, and today we have nine hundred engineer colleagues working in Budapest, whose work I am particularly proud of” said Marc de Bastos Eckstein, Managing Director of thyssenkrupp Components Technology Hungary.
Moving will take several steps and months, and the most difficult task will probably be to build the labs. The environment, that is by nearly a third larger in size than the present site, will be designed to support the agile software development approach used here and to make collaboration among staff members even more effective.
thyssenkrupp is the most intensive industrial and technological investor in Hungary. In addition to the E/E Competence Centre, the company is also engaged in manufacturing and assembly work in Hungary: In Jászfényszaru, electromechanical steering servos and cylinder head integrated camshafts are produced, whereas in Debrecen stabilizers and springs are manufactured by the company. A chassis assembly plant and a Steel Service Centre are in operation in Győr, and the construction of an engine parts factory involving a greenfield investment of about HUF 17 billion in Pécs will begin this year.
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thyssenkrupp continues investing in Hungary
We announced a new automotive greenfield investment and in the following months we will commence the building of a new engine components manufacturing plant in Pécs. The value of the investment is about HUF 17 billion, and the plant will accommodate the manufacture of highly efficient valve train parts and electric motor components. The construction of the new plant is scheduled to begin in September, with the start of production planned for 2020. The new manufacturing unit will create around two hundred new jobs.
„thyssenkrupp is one of the fastest-growing automotive companies in Hungary. Today, we employ a total of almost two thousand people on five sites. In the past few years, we have not only invested in the most up-to-date plants, but also in expanding our development activities. Our E/E competence centre is one of the most outstanding software development centres in Europe,” said Marc de Bastos Eckstein, Managing Director of thyssenkrupp’s automotive field in Hungary.
In the competence centre, software used in electromechanical, “intelligent” steering systems and steering concepts are developed, such as the Steer-by-Wire system, which provides electronic connections instead of mechanical ones for highly automated or autonomous systems.
In the field of manufacturing, thyssenkrupp relies on the latest technology, the rules of Industry 4.0: in the component-manufacturing plant in Pécs, each and every part will be provided with a Data-Matrix code. This coding will allow connection to the data network: each step of the manufacturing process the workpiece goes through is stored in the part’s virtual memory, this way each and every product will have its own, detailed and unique manufacturing history.
“In our plants, factories and development projects our colleagues are engaged in exciting tasks, which, in the last few years, has made us one of the most popular employers in Hungary. We are pleased with this positive reputation, because we have long-term plans with our Hungarian investments, and we are establishing a good cooperation with cities and communities we operate” added the Managing Director.
thyssenkrupp is the most dynamic industrial and technological investor in Hungary: over the past three years, on four sites the company has invested of the value of nearly HUF 50 billion in the automotive supplier field in the country. In addition to the building of the plant in Pécs, the competence centre in Budapest is also continuously expanding.
The automotive success story of thyssenkrupp started in Hungary 20 years ago, when Hungarian engineers and thyssenkrupp decided on the joint development of new, electromechanical steering systems.
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Family day with great interest
We organized a joint family day for our colleagues of Camshafts and Steering plants in the Jászfényszaru site.
More than 600 of our colleagues’ family members were invited to the event, where they could participate in various outdoor and health care programs together with their children.
The family day started at 4 pm and guests of all ages could choose from a wide variety of activities to have fun and relax. The grandiose family day was accompanied by a live radio broadcast and the day ended with concerts.
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thyssenkrupp driving demo on a new test track
thyssenkrupp was also invited to the opening ceremony of the Zalaegerszeg automotive test track, where our engineers presented improvements and exceptional capabilities of our Steer-by-Wire (SbW) steering systems.
During the thyssenkrupp demonstration, a VW Golf 7 R test car equipped with a SbW steering system developed by thyssenkrupp engineers in the E/E competence center in Budapest was introduced to the guests. The maneuvers presented are usually carried out by automotive manufacturers and suppliers during development and testing phases. The SbW system is a non-mechanical steering system, which is now in the development phase and will later allow many new features for autonomous driving cars also. For example, in the future it will be necessary for the vehicle to steer itself without turning the steering wheel, or the steering wheel should be fully displayed into the dashboard of the car.
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thyssenkrupp at the Debrecen Drive festival
The thyssenkrupp team took part in the Debrecen Drive festival, the biggest automotive festival of Eastern Hungary where besides motorcycle and drift shows the automotive manufacturers were represented by own booths and activities.
During the two-day festival, 25.000 visitors had the chance to get acquainted with the work of our springs and stabilizers factory in Debrecen and learn more about the job opportunities in our plant. They could also gain insight into our technologies developed for future autonomous driving cars. As the event was organized on Children’s Day, we didn’t forget about the young – children could test their skills as a racing car driver with our special racing simulator, and the blue cotton candy and the balloon artist’s show attracted many to the thyssenkrupp booth as well.
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Coding Tomorrow Cup – Programming challenge with thyssenkrupp
The Coding Tomorrow Cup programming competition was organized for the second time with the professional partnership of thyssenkrupp. This year, 86 teams from all over the country and from Transylvania signed up for the contest. Twenty development teams and nearly 70 developers – students and experienced developers – participated in the live final in Budapest.
The challenge was launched in March 2019, and in the two online rounds, participants had to „train” their team’s own virtual self-driving car to get passengers to their destinations consistently and safely. In the first round, the focus was on controlling the car, while in the second round, the contestants had to deal with the traffic as well. In the final, developer teams were competing against each other for the passengers on the same track.
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WE Care Day 2019
“If a worker arrives to the workplace in full health, they should return home at least equally as healthy.” – Health and safety first! In recent weeks, our employees attended various health care and accident prevention programs at our sites. Among others, firefighting demonstrations, medical examinations, office massages and healthy lifestyle presentations have also enhanced health days.
The multi-day event is organized every year for our colleagues at all thyssenkrupp sites in Hungary with various programs. The examinations are very popular to which the evidence is that free slots are booked in a very short time. However, everyone has the opportunity to participate and join to a health care activity during the WE Care Day events.