Despite the global financial turbulence, the order books have never been fuller. 250-year-old MAN Diesel expects to grow until 2015 and then to level off at a high level.
“Here in Augsburg, Germany alone, we are planning to triple production between 2006 and 2015,” says Dr. Ing. Gottfried Braun, the senior vice president responsible for quality assurance and the entire classification process related to ship engines.
“We manufactured 120 engines a year in 2006. This will increase to 180 in 2008, 230 in 2010 and 350 in 2015. While we used to take four weeks to build an engine, we now need to make it in only ten days. To achieve this growth, we must change our production process completely, improve at every stage and make major modifications to the factories here at Augsburg. We are investing Euro 100 million here alone in complete rebuilding which includes a new production assembly facility, painting work, testbed and a logistics centre.”
Dr Braun has 110 employees in his unit, which is responsible for Group quality. His staff are located in Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, India, Korea and China, where MAN Diesel manufactures its own engines either at own production facilities or at licensees. MAN can look back on several long-term collaborations with licensees, such as those with Japan’s Kawasaki since 1911 and Mitsui since 1926.
“We are also preparing for the fact that China will almost certainly become the world leader in shipbuilding in 2010, after many booming years,” says Dr Braun.
CO2 and energy consumption
CO2, NOx and reduced energy consumption are hot topics for MAN. MAN Diesel is relaunching its portfolio, making all its engines compatible with the limits established by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in its Tier II regulations. The relaunch is seen as an historic milestone for the company, and one which preempts the January 2011 implementation of the new IMO NOx emission limits by some time.
“What we have done is a complete optimisation of the engine-installation, whether electronically or mechanically controlled,” says Dr Braun. “The main focus, of course, is on environmental challenges such as cutting emissions and the use of bio-fuels. “It is a milestone, we have been working for this for many years,” he says.
In addition to these optimisations MAN Diesel has launched a new large-bore Dual-Fuel engine, the 51/60 DF.
“We are proud to have the type approval of all major classes for this important new marine engine. The approval comprises the engine and a very comprehensive safety concept for the engine room,” he explains.
Having addressed Tier II, MAN Diesel will next start to focus on the Tier III regulations, the successor to Tier II, which are due to come into force in a decade.
Full flexibility extremely important
MAN Diesel works with all the major classification societies. Dr. Braun describes DNV as one of the most progressive of them and says: “DNV offers a very good business model for the self responsible class acceptance – the Manufacturing Survey Arrangement (MSA). It is extremely important for us to have the full flexibility in our production. DNV has very experienced and good surveyors, and state-of-the-art rules. We have great expectations for the future including electronic certificates to be issued at site directly after the survey. DNV should also inform the engine makers continuously about the design of new rules, so the rules could be in-situ optimized in cooperation with the engine builders. DNV should also put pressure on the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) to create state-of-the-art IACS rules.”
Powering the world
‘Powering the world’ is MAN’s slogan, and with its 250-year history MAN is clearly a company for the future too. And although the future is bright, it does contain challenges. With worldwide production and large and small subcontractors, a lot has to go right.
“We must make sure we have a good staff and trained personnel. We must also always make sure we have enough parts,” says Dr Braun. “For example, it’s difficult to obtain enough crankshafts, and this is
a key to success. Ensuring we have enough components at the right time, at the right place, in good condition and with the right quality is a major strain. But we’ve managed to do this for 250 years, and we’ll no doubt also manage it in the future.”