• Implementation of maintenance on two motor plant shop floors 
• Comprehensive and professional project management
• Trusting and long-standing experience in cooperation with MDC Power

Voith Industrial Services implements complete maintenance on two shop floors for the new four-cylinder diesel generator set in the MDC Power engine plant in Kölleda. Thus, MDC Power can concentrate exclusively on its core competencies, i.e., production and quality.

In addition to maintenance and tool management, Voith Industrial Services’ contract also includes technical and infrastructural facility management. With respect to the organization of maintenance, there was a clear separation between line work and project work, i.e., the industrial service provider’s project team implements the project while local, operational employees of the industrial service providers already start the ramp-up phase on site.

To place the focus on the customer was the highest maxime of Voith Industrial Services. Due to close coordination, trusting collaboration and structured processes, the team achieved this goal. A professional project management including weekly status meetings to discuss potentially difficult topics or meetings in situations that required decisions as well as the establishment of a committee structure substantially contributed to success. “A major advantage was that we have long-term experience with similar projects in the automotive industry. This enables us to provide comprehensive best practices worldwide”, says Alexander Bonk, one of the Managing Directors at Voith Industrial Services.

For example, former projects such as real-time data recording with shop floor organization in Poland served as a basis for this project. With respect to spare parts management, the team could refer to best practices when implementing a scanner system for automated recording of storage and removal. While the workshop team could benefit from the experience concerning clear marking and separation of areas, personnel development could rely on best practices such as tools for professional assignment of staff and target-oriented trainings.

On this basis, the industrial service provider defined work packages to implement processes for IT, spare parts management or recruiting, taking into account any safety-related issues. At the same time, the recruiting of additionally required professional employees and staff building were started.

In fall 2015, after almost six months of work, the implementation phase was complete – just in time before production start-up of the new four-cylinder engine in the MDC Power engine plant at the end of October. Currently, the shop floor activities are gradually and steadily ramped up simultaneously with MDC’s production and shift ramp-up.

About Voith Industrial Services:
Voith Industrial Services is one of the leading providers of technical services for key industries such as the automotive, rail, energy, chemical and petrochemical industries. In 2014/2015, the company generated sales of €1.0 billion with about 17,200 employees at approx. 200 locations worldwide.

About MDC:
Since production start in 2003, MDC Power GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of the former Daimler AG, has been consistently developed. Since then, a triple-digit million figure has been invested into the establishment and extension of the site. Meanwhile, nearly 1,100 employees work at MDC Power. If we add the local service providers, more than 1,700 persons are employed on this site.
The latest generation of four-cylinder diesel engines for Mercedes-Benz of A- to S-class car models and for vans has been assembled at MDC since 2008. Since 2011, the four-cylinder petrol engines for A- and B-class, CLA and GLA come also from Kölleda. In addition to that, MDC assembles also high performance turbocharged engines for Mercedes-AMG compact cars. In October 2015, the production of the new generation of diesel engines started.