Skoda Vagonka applauds the opening of Europe's largest aluminium machine tool in Ostrava. The device is part of a large investment aimed at significantly increasing and accelerating the production of aluminium-box vehicles.
The Skoda Transportation Group announced that the value of investments in the Skoda Vagonka plant in Ostrava, which celebrates its 120th anniversary, has exceeded 100 million crowns. The most important part of the plant's equipment is the aluminium machine tool, the design of which allows you to work with elements with dimensions exceeding the capabilities of standard machines (even up to 39 x 4.5 m). Machining is possible down to a hundredth of a millimetre.
Weighing 360 tonnes, the device is almost 50 meters long and 10 meters wide. Adaptation of the new hall to the operation of such a huge device required a suitably solid construction of foundations and walls. According to the Skoda representatives in the press release, 700 cubic meters of concrete and 40 tons of structural elements were used in the construction of the foundations. During the entire investment, the soil was excavated, transported in about 150 trucks. The biggest challenge, however, was driving 138 concrete structural poles to a depth of 9 to 11 meters. The whole area is equal to half the area of the Olympic swimming pool.
Investments in plants in Ostrava, as well as Pilzno and Šumperk, are to increase the production capacity of the group, improving the production of rolling stock for Czech and foreign customers. One of the first contracts in which the new machine will be used will be the production of rolling stock for Latvian Railways. Recently, large orders for electric multiple units have also been placed by customers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There are also plans to supply push-pull trains for the Moravian-Silesian region.
The opening of the new hall means that Skoda's production area in Ostrava will double and the number of employees is now 900.
Petr Brzezina, President of Skoda Transportation, said: “Expanding production and introducing innovations are crucial for us today. The new processing plant, which no other similar facility can match in terms of size, will allow us to improve efficiency both in terms of time and money.”
He added: “The new investment along with the modernization of the manufacturer's other plants in Pilzno and Šumperk was possible thanks to the new owner of the company, the PPF group.”
The investment in the plant and the gigantic machine tool is part of the “Nowa Vagonka” investment program worth nearly a billion crowns. It assumes a significant increase in production, especially of electric multiple units. Even more - fivefold - the number of vehicles with aluminium boxes leaving the factory is to increase. Skoda Transportation's offer also includes trams, electric locomotives and metro trains (in 2019 the manufacturer won its first contract in Warsaw), trolleybuses and electric buses. The Skoda Digital research and development centre, dealing with the development of control and diagnostic systems, is also to be moved to Ostrava soon.
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