GAZ Group, a company of Basic Element, a major diversified industrial group in Russia, expands its cooperation with Daimler. The Gorky Automobile Plant starts producing stamped parts and body structural elements for Mercedes-Benz Sprinter built by the plant since July 2013. The first stampings are already shipped to the Mercedes assembly line at GAZ.
GAZ Group expands its cooperation with Daimler. The Company started producingstamped and structural body parts for Mercedes-Benz Sprinter at its Nizhny Novgorod site, both for the assembly line at the Gorky Plant and for spare parts sales network. The plan is to produce surface panels later on. The components made by GAZ for Mercedes-Benz Sprinter may be sold at the aftersales export markets.
The production of components for Daimler is located in the press frame shop with the help of new automatic equipment using modern stamping tooling from Germany and Argentina. The employees engaged in the production were trained at the plants producing stamped parts for Daimler in Europe and Russia. Currently, the press frame shop is getting ready for the quality management system to be certified according to the requirements of ISO TS 16949 global standard.
Previously, the body stampings for the production of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter were shipped to GAZ from non-CIS countries. Daimler can increase the localized content of the vehicle through using the components produced in Russia.
Production of automotive components for Daimler is the first major contract for producing stamped body parts that was signed between GAZ Group and the global OEM. This cooperation broadens the list of automotive projects between GAZ Group and the global OEM’s that have assembly operations in Russia. For instance, GAZ has a joint venture with Bosal, a European company, producing exhaust systems (supplied to the Russian assembly lines building Volkswagen and Skoda cars). The joint venture with Bulten, a supplier to major foreign OEM’s, produces fasteners. GAZ is making frames for Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and was nominated to be the supplier of crankshaft castings to Ford Sollers engine plant. The Yaroslavl Engine Plant of GAZ Group produces engines for Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. These projects help to create a modern automotive component base at the Company production facilities and to open up new opportunities for import replacement.
Kirill Epstein, GG Autocomponent Division Director:
– We had to compete for the nomination as supplier to Daimler with the leading players of the global market of stampings. We won thanks to the best offer in terms of organizational and technical capacities of our production process, higher qualifications of our specialists, our flexible approach to production costs management, all of which allow us to secure a printable landed price of the product. Our partnership with Daimler helps us to strengthen our competences in producing high quality automotive components. We continue to adopt the best practices of the global automotive sector. The interest shown by Daimler confirms the effectiveness of the strategy focused on developing the automotive component business at GAZ both through cooperation with the Russian partners and through expanding our participation in localization of the Russian operations building foreign cars.
