AUDI AG opened a new production facility in Münchsmünster. The company is consistently expanding its main plant in Ingolstadt. In the Münchsmünster Industrial Park, approximately 30 kilometers east of the main plant, body parts and suspension components will be produced with new, innovative technologies. Some 800 Audi employees will work in Münchsmünster with about 250 new jobs being created. The opening ceremony was attended by more than 300 guests. Board of Management Member for Production Dr. Frank Dreves also welcomed the chief administrator of the district of Pfaffenhofen, Martin Wolf, and the Mayor of Münchsmünster, Andreas Meyer.
In the Münchsmünster Industrial Park, an Audi competence center has been built for the production of structural car body parts made of die-cast aluminum, hot and cold pressed parts and suspension components. This new production facility, in which the company has invested a low three-digit million amount, is a further element of Audi’s growth strategy. Another factor is that it will reduce the pressure on the main plant in Ingolstadt.
“We have set up an ultramodern plant equipped with the latest technologies,” said Dr. Frank Dreves, Board of Management Member for Production, AUDI AG. “With the components we manufacture here, we will intensify our consistent application of lightweight construction and develop Münchsmünster into an important high-technology center.” The form-hardened sheet-steel components and die-cast aluminum parts have the advantage of low weight combined with high strength and the utmost precision. “With the new production methods we are using here, we are pushing the limits of technical feasibility,” said Dreves.
Audi will gradually increase the plant’s production volumes. By 2016, some 800 employees will work in Münchsmünster, including approximately 250 new recruits.
Peter Mosch, Chairman of the General Works Council of AUDI AG, said, “We are creating employment in our home region and attractive jobs in the field of these future-oriented technologies. The new production facility will contribute towards the site’s development as the leading facility in the Audi Group.”
The construction of the new production facility went smoothly and according to plan. Work started in the summer of 2012, and the manufacturing of suspension components and structural parts and the aluminum die-casting are now going into pre-series operation. The major advantages of the 42-hectare site in Münchsmünster include its proximity to the main plant as well as good transport connections via the B 16 and B 16a federal highways. There are also plans for a rail link to the Ingolstadt-Regensburg main railway line.
Energy and heat are recovered in all three sections of the plant; the cleaning of used air and water and noise protection are state of the art. An energy center, a health center and a fire station complete the new facility. The equipment is predominantly from German and European engineering companies and the building work was mainly performed by regional firms.