Knorr-Bremse in Hungary

Energy Efficiency Report

In Hungary, the Knorr-Bremse corporate group has two sites: the site in Budapest produces installations for railway (SfS) brake systems, while the one in Kecskemét for commercial vehicles (SfN).

Rail Vehicle Systems

When establishing the site in Budapest in December 1995, the railway division of the company group took into consideration economic, environmental, and infrastructural opportunities before constructing a brand new plant. KB SfS is the sole proprietor of Knorr-Bremse Vasúti Jármű Rendszerek Hungária Kft.

At the time of the establishment of the site in Budapest, the management of the company (with the exception of one person) consisted exclusively of German citizens; however, over the course of 3-4 years, this situation changed completely, and today there is only one German manager left in the current management team. Production at our site began in June 1996, and the following five years brought the continuous restructuring of production at our company, with products brought over from Munich, Berlin, Mödling, and Zurich. Due to the increased demand for productive space, we stopped using the production hall for storage, and built a modern high-bay warehouse in December 1998. The considerable increase in our output compelled us to modernise the delivery area, as well, which was realised in 2000.

Up until 2000, the site had a functional structure, but following the creation of central competence centres – and using the experiences gained in the process – we restructured KBU, as well. The functional structure of the site was transformed and the production segment organisations – into which the complete production and service (acquisition, production logistics, machining, and assembly) activities of individual product families were grouped – were created, and are still in use.

As a result of product developments and restructuring, KBU has since become the largest manufacturing unit of KB SfS. We supply products to the following three CoC departments:

  • CoC BE (Bogie Equipment)
  • CoC BC (Brake Control)
  • CoC AS (Air Supply)

In the beginning, the various sites of the company group introduced their own quality control systems, but eventually the need arose to implement a common system. Unfortunately, the quality control system developed was not appropriate and sufficiently flexible for the needs of the company group. Following a complex review, a comprehensive business management system based on new concepts and called REX (Rail EXcellence) was introduced in 2001. The management team of KBU played an active role in the development and implementation of REX. In order to further improve its processes, the corporate group launched a self-evaluation process based on the EFQM system of criteria in 2002.

Knorr-Bremse Hungária Ltd. in 2005 received the National Quality Award.

Within the framework of the REX process model employed by us, our processes are divided into comprehensive main processes and auxiliary processes that support these; in addition process hosts (responsible entities for individual processes) are allocated to each partial process both at the level of KB SfS and of the sites, therefore also at KBU.

Our site is primarily involved in the execution of projects, meaning that orders from the competence centres arrive as part of a project. As we have already mentioned, the sale of finished products also takes place through these competence centres.

As a subsidiary of KB SfS, KBU acts in accordance with the objectives, mission, and vision of the corporate group, in conjunction with the other sites of the latter. Beyond this, our mission is to develop and perfect the brake system elements and installations manufactured by us, and to conduct research activities in order to find new solutions.

One of our key goals is to increase our internal market share within the railway division of the Knorr-Bremse corporate group, while preserving and improving our high level of customer satisfaction and excellent quality. Knorr-Bremse Hungária Kft. has been increasing its turnover since its foundation, and has become the largest supplier of the bogie equipment competence centre of the company group.

Our company places great emphasis on the professional courses aimed at preserving and improving quality, in which each and every one of our employees take part either as an instructor, or as a participant.

Commercial Vehicles

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