Omniplus, the Daimler Buses service brand, has built a new, top-class service centre for Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses as well as touring coaches, offering a comprehensive range of services in Berlin’s Neudecker Weg. Europe’s state-of-the-art, innovative Daimler Buses Service Center has been built across an area spanning around 21,000 square metres, the most modern and innovative Daimler Buses Service Center in Europe, offering cutting-edge, premium services for Mercedes-Benz as well as Setra buses and touring coaches while simultaneously operating as the largest Omniplus service site for Mercedes-Benz electric buses in Europe. In future, Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin will also offer services for fuel cell buses from competent experts.
“Premium service and customer orientation are top priorities at Daimler Buses. With our comprehensive range of services for all our buses and touring coaches, we are absolutely positioned for the future here in Berlin,” says Mirko Sgodda, Head of Marketing, Sales and Customer Services at Daimler Buses. “Daimler Buses Service Center in Berlin will set new standards for our customers in terms of technological expertise, environmental awareness and electromobility. In addition, we met the specified budget and timeframe.”
Convenient location for local buses and touring coaches and those passing by
The new Daimler Buses Service Center in Neudecker Weg is conveniently located at the intersection of the Berlin districts of Neukölln and Adlershof. Its direct connection to the main transport arteries of the German capital offers invaluable advantages. The A113 motorway is just a few minutes away. The A10 orbital motorway, the city’s central bus station (ZOB), and Berlin Airport (BER) are only about ten kilometres away. Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin is not only a central service centre for regular-service buses and touring coaches up to double-decker buses from the entire Berlin-Brandenburg region, but it’s location is also strategically advantageous for all buses and touring coaches passing by.
Parking spaces for 80 large or small buses and touring coaches are available throughout the vast company premises. Two DC charging stations allow up to four electric buses to be simultaneously charged by cable with a fast charging capacity of 150 kW. Visitors and employees can park their cars in 35 other parking spaces, most of which also boast charging facilities.
Technological know-how: Europe’s most modern Daimler Buses Service Center
The new Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin has state-of-the-art equipment and can therefore also take on workshop activities that previously had to be done by external service providers and third-party companies. Its range of services encompasses the entire service portfolio from maintenance and repair to bodywork and painting for Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses as well as touring coaches to any work on the high-voltage technology and battery repairs for Mercedes-Benz electric buses. Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin has also already been prepared for the next generation of hydrogen-powered fuel cell buses.
Holistic expertise: minimising the ecological footprint
In total, Daimler Buses has invested more than 20 million euros in the new Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin, where up to 70 jobs are to be created. In addition to the wide range of state-of-the-art, comprehensive services for conventionally and electrically powered buses as well as touring coaches, the focus is also on a multitude of future-proof measures with the aim of achieving a largely closed material and energy cycle.
This is made possible by the efficient, comprehensive recycling of resources and the stationary storage of solar power generated on the hall roofs by a large-scale, high-performance photovoltaic system. In the medium term, the installation of 2nd-life battery systems on the premises of Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin has been planned to provide energy storage. Based on NMC high-performance batteries originating from the Mercedes-Benz eCitaro, which are replaced after a defined operating time, these battery units are intended to cover the majority of the power supply for the full range of operating processes in the final expansion stage. The stationary, continued use of eCitaro batteries ensures a second life as a storage medium after their use in the vehicle and also improves the eco balance of the new Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin.
The Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin has also been designed to save energy in many other areas, down to the smallest detail. All floors throughout the site, including the workshop hall, have been equipped with underfloor heating. Sophisticated water management allows the produced waste water to be recycled. As a result, the share of fresh water consumption in the vehicle wash adds up to just ten percent. Even rainwater is filtered through a sediment layer at the Daimler Buses Service Center site and channelled into the Teltow Canal. All doors and numerous partition walls in the workshop hall feature efficient noise insulation.
Employee workplaces are also modern and have been designed to be accessible to all. Lifts connect the two floors of the administration building. Wide hallways and aisles as well as generously dimensioned door openings also allow wheelchair users to easily reach their respective destinations on all floors and working areas of the building.
In detail: the new workshop hall for all bus/touring coach-specific services
One highlight is the large workshop hall, which takes up the majority of the Daimler Buses Service Center building footprint of around 4960 square metres. It measures 150 metres in length and 35 metres in width. Access to the inside is granted through a total of 32 roller shutter doors. There is a total of 26 assembly stations, a large bodywork department, a painting booth, a preparation hall, and a vehicle washing facility, all of which have been designed for buses and touring coaches with lengths of up to 22 metres and a height of at least 4.10 metres.
Six roller shutter doors on each side of the hall lead to six assembly lanes, each one being 34 metres long, where work can be carried out on two solo or articulated buses at the same time. This results in a total of twelve assembly stations for mechanical/electrical maintenance and repair work. In addition, two more lanes with a total of four stations and one roller shutter door each on both sides of the hall have been designated for the repair of electrically powered Mercedes-Benz buses. In this section of the hall, special safety sliding platforms have been installed around the bus roof to minimise risks when carrying out high-voltage work on the batteries. What makes the facility unique is that it is not only possible to replace the complete battery pack at Daimler Buses Service Center Berlin, but it is also possible to have it repaired and to repair individual components of the battery drive system that are not operating properly. Four assembly lanes and thus eight of the total of 16 assembly stations in this hall section feature pits with automatic pit covers, oil and water collection ducts, wheel grippers and lifting cranes.
The four hall sections connected to this workshop section have also been designed for two vehicles each that can be worked on at the same time. As it can get very noisy in these sections, each one is separated from the other hall sections by soundproof walls to keep noise levels to a minimum for the staff working there. They can be accessed via one roller shutter door each on both sides of the hall.
Technical and statutory inspection checks are carried out in the first of these four sections. One CapaCity or two other bus types can use the integrated brake test stand here at the same time. The adjacent three hall sections are reserved for bodywork, accident repairs, and paintwork preparations. Depending on requirements, one articulated bus or two smaller vehicles can be painted at the same time in the divisible painting booth directly next to it. The facility primarily uses environmentally friendly, water-based paints. This area is adjacent to a treatment hall and a vehicle washing facility operating with a high-performance cleaning system.
Two separate assembly stations with lifting platforms have been set up in the front part of the workshop hall. In addition, the invitingly designed reception area for partners and bus/touring coach customers, the service staff and workshop managers’ offices, the ordering and distribution centre for Omniplus Genuine Parts, staff lounges and meeting rooms, as well as a state-of-the-art spare parts high-bay warehouse with three floors spanning an area of 2400 square metres have been spread out over two floors.
The site of the new Daimler Buses Service Center is directly adjacent to Daimler Truck AG’s Berlin Commercial Vehicle Centre. This creates synergies between the two facilities and enables even better service with customer orientation at the highest level.
Omniplus: densest service network for buses and touring coaches in Europe
With around 600 service centres, Omniplus offers the densest service network for buses and touring coaches in Europe. These have been divided into the BusWorld, BusPort and BusPoint service categories. The highest level of service is provided by the service centres of in the BusWorld category, including the Daimler Buses Service Center. They are characterised by maximum parts availability, participation in Omniplus 24h Service, special tools for bus/touring coach-specific repairs, and extended opening hours. Highly trained and certified employees boast the highest levels of expertise for services and repairs relating to buses/touring coaches and their components.
SOURCE: Daimler Truck
