City bus production to be concentrated in Starachowice
MAN is concentrating its production of city buses at the plant in Starachowice, Poland. This will require an investment in Poland of around €40 million, which will be used for a new vehicle generation among other things. Final assembly of buses will be transferred from Poznan to Starachowice over the coming years up until the end of 2016. In future MAN will have its entire city bus production concentrated there and will increase the workforce. At a staff meeting today, MAN informed employees at the Poznan site about the relocation of production. The around 900 affected employees at the Poznan site are guaranteed a job at the MAN bus plant in Starachowice.
Jens Ocksen, Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen Poznań Sp. zo.o., and Piotr Olbrys, Chairman of the Solidarnosc union at VW Poznan, also took part in the staff meeting and informed MAN employees about the employment options at VW Commercial Vehicles in the greater Poznan area.
“By concentrating its city bus production in Starachowice, MAN is responding to weak demand and existing overcapacities. All affected employees can transfer to our Starachowice plant. We will support employees who choose to move by providing attractive mobility bonuses, because we urgently need their expertise”, said Anders Nielsen, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus AG. Anyone who is unable to move for family-related or other reasons will also have the opportunity to apply for an equivalent job in a Volkswagen production plant in the greater Poznan area. MAN will also offer severance packages.
Nielsen stressed that MAN must improve the efficiency of the production network to remain competitive and that consequently there is no alternative to this step. MAN Lion’s City buses and bus chassis are produced at MAN’s Poznan site. In future the buses will be produced at MAN’s plant in Starachowice. MAN took over the plant in 1999 and it has been a competence centre for bus manufacture since 2007.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is investing heavily in the Poznan region: a new plant for manufacturing the new VW Crafter will be built there by the end of 2016. By using all capacity reserves, Volkswagen could create up to 3,000 attractive long-term jobs in Poznan. With a total of more than 10,000 employees and 4 plants, Poland is already one of the most important countries for manufacturing MAN and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The importance of the Poznan site will be reinforced with the new plant for the VW Crafter.
