Assembly Kits from Wörth Support Global Growth of Mercedes-Benz Trucks for 50 Year
- Completely knocked down trucks made in Wörth shipped for the first time in 1966
- More than 700,000 parts kits have been shipped to assembly locations around the world, about 13,000 in 2015
- Investment of around three million euros in CKD-Center (CKD = Completely Knocked Down) until 2018
- Gerald Jank: “At the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant we are proud to be putting our trucks on roads around the world. Since 50 years our CKD-Center plays a key role in reinforcing our position in important growth markets outside Europe. At the center of competence for CKD production, our highly qualified workforce knows exactly how to produce trucks at top quality and ship them overseas for assembly.”
The CKD-Center at the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The location began producing complete truck parts kits, “CKD kits”, for assembly abroad back in 1966 (CKD = Completely Knocked Down). A total of 700,000 CKD kits have been packaged in Wörth and shipped throughout the world to date. The kits are assembled into complete trucks with the usual Mercedes-Benz quality at plants in countries like South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, among others.
“At the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant we are proud to be putting our trucks on roads around the world. Since 50 years our CKD-Center plays a key role in reinforcing our position in important growth markets outside Europe. At the center of competence for CKD production, our highly qualified workforce knows exactly how to produce trucks at top quality and ship them overseas for assembly,” said Gerald Jank, Head of the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant. “In the next years we want to keep growing strongly outside of Europe. Thus, we will invest around three million euros in the center of competence for CKD.”
Key Role in the Global Mercedes-Benz Trucks Production Network
Since 50 years the CKD-Center in Wörth stands for the successful implementation of its original concept of “shipping quality”. The center sends high-quality individual truck components produced at the site to the international assembly plants. The kits are assembled reliably and flexibly at the foreign locations in accordance with the Mercedes-Benz high quality standards. The experienced production team from Wörth plays an important part in safeguarding these strict quality requirements all over the world. The specialists in Wörth regularly support colleagues at foreign plants with production start-ups, for example, as part of special training programs. Thus, as the CKD-Center of competence Wörth plays a key role in the international Mercedes-Benz Trucks Production Network.
Assembly Kits from Wörth Tap into International Growth Markets
Since 50 years the CKD-Center of competence significantly helps to tap important growth markets for Mercedes-Benz trucks from Wörth. Thanks to its high degree of flexibility, the CKD-Center is always able to meet customers’ requirements at short notice in other markets around the world. By now, the CKD-Center uses this model in an exceedingly flexible and reliable manner to supply parts kits for Mercedes-Benz trucks to numerous markets like South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brazil and Russia, in accordance with customers’ specific requirements. Also, the planned return to the Iranian market will henceforth be covered with parts kits from the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant. The local assembly in the markets allows meeting the demands of truck customers, which vary significantly by region, rapidly. Customers also benefit economically from local production due to the significantly lower import duties at many places.
Half a Century of CKD Know-how from Wörth
CKD production at the Wörth plant started in 1966 with around 500 kits. Even back then, the first truck kits were sent to Iran. In 1969, the CKD-Center produced more than 11,000 CKD kits for the first time. Since 1978 parts kits are assembled at the CKD packaging hall with container loading. Today, the CKD-Center in Wörth employs about 450 people. The current portfolio of the CKD-Center in Wörth includes the Mercedes-Benz Actros, Axor and Atego in the fields of road and construction site transport. The special Unimog and Zetros vehicles are also shipped as kits.
