MANmagazine Bus edition 1/2017 International

IMPRESSIVE ALL ALONG THE LINE:
COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS FROM ZF
Bus passengers expect maximum safety and comfort. Transmissions and axles from ZF help fulfill these expectations.
They let passengers get in and out quickly and safely, and ensure a swift and pleasant journey. What’s more,
our products are tailored precisely to one another and are always top quality, providing dynamic acceleration
and quiet running too. That way, you can reduce strain on the vehicle and the environment – not to mention
the life cycle costs. www.zf.com/buses
Final check: At the new customer
centre, MAN employees and
customers give the completed city
buses a careful inspection.
„I was most
impressed by the
cathodic immersion
paint system.”
Horst Noppe, Head of Technology at Busverkehr
Oder-Spree GmbH
about 500 employees changed to the sister
company. Roughly the same number chose to
leave with severance pay and quickly found
other jobs in the Poznan region. The goal
during relocation was “to integrate all Poznan
parameters into the Starachowice processes,
while simultaneously increasing efficiency,
shortening run times and above all maintaining
quality”, enumerates Kobriger. “The fact
that we actually achieved that target was due
to the amazing work of the team.” To some
extent, goals were even exceeded: “During
the two relocation years, for example, we
increased productivity by 14%.” This certainly
serves as a testament to how the knowledge
transfer to the new and extremely committed
employees happened so seamlessly.
WHEN TOURING THE PLANT, customers are
amazed by the modern facilities. “I’m pleasantly
surprised by the cleanliness and the fact
that all logistical workflows take place under
one roof,” emphasises Christian Popp, Head of
Operations for Austria’s bus enterprise ÖBB-
Postbus. In Starachowice, the entire production
process of a bus is made transparent. One
of the highlights for visitors is the projection
room. Here developers work with life-sized
and walk-in 3-D simulations that appear real
enough to give some guests a dose of
dizziness. At another station, the laser cutting
area, staff members are punching out the
sheet metal parts for the bus frame. After stabilising
and erecting the frame, the bus is
dipped into multiple basins of cathodic
immersion paint to ensure optimised
corrosion resistance. MAN’s Starachowice site
is the only bus manufacturer in Poland to
operate such equipment. The measuring and
chemical labs are also ultramodern and facilitate
ecological solutions. In 2012, the plant
also put a thermal exhaust air treatment
system into operation.
In the assembly hall for bus interiors, the
MAN crews work on the individual vehicles
on two levels. The wide diversity of design
variants, due to customer-specific furnishing
choices, poses a major challenge for
employees, such as when installing electronics
– be it for cash register systems or for triggering
traffic lights. Upon completion, the
buses are handed over to the customer in the
delivery centre, where the new owners can
scrutinise their vehicles carefully and sign
off on them. “This plant is just as good as the
one in Poznan, and we’re very satisfied with
our sophisticated new low-floor buses,” says
Christian Studnicka from the technology department
at ÖBB-Postbus, when summarising
his impressions.
© Piotr Malecki
18