Continental Builds New Technology Center in Limbach-Oberfrohna

LIMBACH-OBERFROHNA, GERMANY – June 19, 2012: For the past twelve years, automotive supplier Continental has been manufacturing piezo injectors at its site in Limbach-Oberfrohna/Stollberg and this precision technology from Saxony is busy making diesel engines increasingly efficient and eco-friendly. With their ultra-fast precise operation, piezo injectors have revolutionized common rail injection systems. “Limbach-Oberfrohna is the Continental Corporation’s lead site for this sophisticated technology,” comments Wolfgang Breuer, Head of the Engine Systems Business Unit in the company’s Powertrain Division. “Earlier this year, the site celebrated production of the 50 millionth piezo injector. And the next generations of injector systems are already on their way, with volume production to be phased in from 2013 onwards.” Production of these high-tech injectors requires exceptionally efficient machinery, and in the future Continental is to develop this equipment itself. To this end the company is currently building a new Technology Center in Limbach-Oberfrohna which is due to open for business in December of this year.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new complex was attended by members of local government from Limbach-Oberfrohna and Continental management. “The Technology Center represents a key investment in the future,” says Site Manager Dr. Joachim Zirbs. “It underlines how important our site with its two plants in Limbach-Oberfrohna and Stollberg is to Continental. And it also documents the remarkable success with which we work on technologies of the future – in line with our site motto: ‘Always one µ ahead’. That is what makes Continental such an attractive employer for skilled labor and we are convinced that we will find the experts we need in the regional labor pool.” Zirbs also views the construction of the new Center “as a sign that – as well as building on our production know-how – Continental is investing in expanding our development expertise.”

Plant and equipment made to measure

Production of piezo injectors requires machinery that is made to measure for the specific systems concerned. Developing this technology will be the core task of the new Center, where experts from Continental will join forces with the machinery manufacturers to build prototypes and bring them to a state of readiness for series production. The new Technology Center will also be a catalyst for the production-friendly design of new types of injector, as well as offering production workers a chance to familiarize themselves with the product, production equipment and manufacturing process in the run-up to start of production of a new injector.

Continental is investing €1.7 million in the construction of the new Technology Center which will ultimately provide work for around 100 employees. The two-story building will offer a good 1,200 square meters of floor space. The lower floor will host the instrumentation facilities while the upper floor will feature office space and meeting rooms. A link will connect the Center to an existing complex where the sample injectors will be manufactured.

Continental production plants in Saxony: pioneers in piezo injectors

In the year 2000, the world’s first volume-built piezo injectors came off the line at Continental’s Limbach-Oberfrohna plant, with production at the Stollberg plant commencing in 2004. At its Limbach-Oberfrohna/Stollberg site, Continental Automotive Group employs around 1,600 people, who last year alone turned out 10 million piezo injectors. Piezo technology, which was developed in the mid 1990s, optimizes diesel engine injection cycles in terms of the number, precision and stability of the injections, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions while at the same time enabling an increase in output. Continental has already been honored for its latest piezo innovation – a diesel injector with direct drive – which will go into volume production in 2014. The system won the Innovation Award for Climate and Environment (Innovationspreis für Klima und Umwelt), jointly presented by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federation of German Industry (BDI).