Construction of new Mercedes-Benz plant starts in Hungary: Drees & Sommer managing complex logistics and coordinating schedules

Work on the new automobile factory for Daimler AG began in July 2009 in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét. Drees & Sommer is a partner for the control of this major project, which presents great logistics challenges as a result of the extensive construction work involved. The project is scheduled for completion by 2011. To ensure punctual start of production in Hungary, the Drees & Sommer project managers are controlling many aspects, including schedules.

Roads and building sites can already be seen on the 441 hectare site in Kecskemét, some 80 kilometers south of Budapest. The foundation stone for the new automobile production plant was laid last month, marking the start of construction. The plant will include a weld shop, assembly and logistics halls, a paint shop, a central administration building, and various outbuildings. About a year ago, Drees & Sommer was commissioned by Daimler AG to provide project control services. Here, the company's extensive experience with such projects and its international alignment were of great benefit. Hungarian-speaking employees from the Austrian Drees & Sommer subsidiary support the principal to communicate with building planners, local contractors and other partners on site. Organizational processes undertaken in Germany are handled by employees in Stuttgart. In this way, the service provider is delivering comprehensive support for the client's activities.

Smooth processes and critical path analysis
The tasks undertaken by the project managers range from support with establishing key cost data and the development of a contract award strategy to schedule management and collaboration on a comprehensive site logistics concept. As buildings are being erected almost simultaneously, logistics coordination of the building site represents a special challenge. Consequently, the development of a logistics concept was one of the key tasks for the Drees & Sommer construction experts. The first step was to examine the availability of materials in the marketplace and of transport to the building site, and to develop appropriate solutions. The logistics concept covers not only management of deliveries to Kecskemét, but also the coordination of traffic on the building site itself. This is imperative, given that material suppliers and considerably more than 1,000 employees pass through the entrance and exit gates and move around the site every day. To ensure on-schedule completion, critical path analysis is being used to simulate workflows for the entire construction project. The aim of this modeling is to optimize and monitor processes.

Production ramp-up by 2012
The first subproject due for completion is the shell of the paint shop, which has a gross floor area of approximately 52,000 square meters. Following the construction of remaining processing plant and equipment, the parallel construction of the remaining buildings and the phased ramp-up and testing of the production facilities, Daimler AG will manufacture the next generation of Mercedes-Benz A- and B-class vehicles in Kecskemét.

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