photo: https://www.facebook.com/SkupinaPPF/photos/pcb.210068717485114/210068514151801/Škoda Vagonka in Ostrava
Škoda Vagonka in Ostrava offers its customers the largest and most modern machining center in Europe. The company is also looking for 500 new employees. The center opened at the weekend, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. It is planned that the production of trains will also take place here.
Škoda Vagonka in Ostrava, a subsidiary of Škoda Transportation, thus doubled its production facilities. For more, it doubles the number of employees as well. So far, the workshop has employed 450 people. The number of employees is expected to climb to 900. The total investment in this project has amounted to 100 million crowns.
The technological pearl of the whole area in Ostrava is a machine tool of huge dimensions. The weight of this device reaches 360 tons. It is 50 meters long and ten meters wide. On this specialized device, it is possible to machine a product measuring 39 × 4.5 meters. However, the machining accuracy is despite the large dimensions of the machine so precise that hundredths of a millimeter can be measured. This technology was supplied to Škoda Vagonka by Strojírna Tyc.
"The development and innovation of our production are pivotal for us at this time. The new machining center is unrivalled in its dimensions and will allow us to work much more efficiently, both in terms of time and cost. In recent years, we have been really successful under our new owner, the PPF Group, which is why we are investing in companies not only in our Škoda company in Ostrava but also in Pilsen and Šumperk. In Ostrava, we will double not only the production area but also the number of employees, which will increase from 450 to 900," told the media Petr Brzezina, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of the Škoda Transportation Group.
The total investment in this project reached an astronomical amount of one billion Czech crowns. As part of the implementation of this project, it was necessary to dig out about a thousand cubic meters of soil. This is to illustrate about 150 trucks of material. About 700 cubic meters of concrete were used, which was reinforced with 40 tons of fittings and reinforcements. 138 concrete pylons were hammered to a depth of 9-11 meters.
Škoda Vagonka in Ostrava mainly plans repairs of single-decker electric trains on its premises. Its clients should include mainly Czech companies and also companies from Slovakia or Latvia. They will also focus on Push-Pull sets, which will run in the Moravian-Silesian Region.
"The new machining center will double the company's capacity to machine oversized parts. Thanks to this, we will, for example, newly machine aluminum weldments and subassemblies of wide-gauge cabinets for vehicle projects intended for Latvian Railways, for example," said Martin Bednarz, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Škoda Vagonka.