Plauen – home of the Neoplan Starliner and Cityliner

Production

Over the years the size of the facility has gradually grown as Neoplan and more recently MAN have invested in it. Nevertheless, it is the smallest manufacturing facility within the whole VW parent group. It currently covers 71,390 square metres and employs 413 people: 333 of them on the workshop floor and 80 in salaried roles. A single shift is operated but at busy times a second shift can be introduced in the paint shop as well as in the sheet metal and plastic parts sections. In the busy early months of the year there is sometimes 45 hour working rather than the standard 40-hour week. Recent investments have included a major new Logistics Centre employing 50 people in 2011, while a new 3,800 square metre water based paint plant is currently being installed at a cost of €11.4m.

The Plant Manager is Achim Knabe who was away on business when I visited but I was ably looked after by other members of the Plauen team including: Michael Nentwig, Vehicle Acceptance Manager; Andre Korner, Economist; and Dieter Paske, Product Manager.

Production at the plant begins with the arrival by truck of completed frames from the plant at Starowice in Poland. These have already been cataphoretically dipped to protect them from corrosion and make the journey wrapped to protect the KTL treatment from UV rays. They then go through the first assembly hall where the frame progresses stage by stage until it is fully panelled and ready for paint. In the soon to be replaced paintshops, each shell is fully prepared before painting. Looking at some of those that had recently left the plant, including the Parry’s trio, I was very impressed at the extremely high standard of finish achieved on highly complicated multi colour schemes.

For the next stage of the build process each coach travels a short distance across the river by truck to the second assembly building. Known as Werk II, it is a rented property originally used by Vomag for the manufacture of knitting machines. Here the coach winds its way through the plant following a single line. The first task is to install most electrical cabling, followed by piping and the wooden floor sections and floor covering, before the side trim starts to be applied, and beyond this the first glazing stage.

Between the lines are a number of sub assembly stations were various sections of the coach including the toilet compartments, stairs, dashboards, inner ceiling sections, doors and front sections are pre-assembled ready for installation. The plant employs a kanban style lean manufacturing system with all necessary parts supplied to the line so that employees do no have to wander off to the stores to find anything.

After the initial glazing battening is undertaken followed by air conditioning, the second stage electrics, side glazing, doors, the fuel tanks, the inner ceiling and the toilet compartment. A further sub assembly area unites the engine units and gearboxes to form the driveline, a task undertaken until a few years ago at the engine plant in Nuremberg. This is then installed at the rear of the coach while other employees fit the kitchen inside. At the following stage all of the liquids are added and the engine is started for the first time. Once everything is checked for leaks it moves on to another stage where the air conditioning system is filled with R123A refrigerant, lubricants are added, and the entertainment system, decency shields and monitors are installed.

At this stage the front section is still not fitted in order to maximise accessibility behind it; it is not until the penultimate build position that this jig built unit is added. The last stage is the addition of the door units and the seats, most of which are supplied by Kiel, though there are a few Vogel units used. The method of getting the seats into the coach is unusual; they go in through the back window aperture via a kind of portable funicular railway contraption that reduces the amount of lifting for employees. It is not until they are in place that the rear screen is bonded in place. For some markets, most notably the Turkish, no seats are fitted at the factory, they are not installed until they reach their destination.

At each of the stations there is a stand containing full details of the quality processes undertaken there and how they are to be carried out.

It depends on the complication of the specification but each coach spends around 40 days at the plant in total. Last year roughly 65% of production was Cityliner and the other 35% Starliner, though that will change with production of the Jetliner now also going through the plant.

Landmark

Elsewhere in this issue we take a closer look at the trio of new Starliners that Dave Parry is putting in service this season, following the initial acquisition of a single coach last year. Ian Mclean sees the deal as a landmark one for the UK because it is a first in terms of the level of factory involvement in a specialist vehicle for the UK. He pointed out, ‘Plauen has a history of bespoke production for European markets, but this is a first for the UK.’ In the past, coaches with the level of bespoke finish required by Parrys International and other leading operators have been finished by specialist converters in the UK. The Starliner P12 Parrys took last year was fitted with a centre kitchen rather than the rear mounted arrangement that Parrys would have preferred and was completed in the UK. This year’s trio of P12s will all be almost completely factory built, with only the multi coloured ‘mood lighting’ element that Dave pioneered installed in the UK.

The advantages for Neoplan and the operator are obvious in that if the company has done all of the work, it also knows that it has been done to its standards, while the operator knows that whatever the fault, the responsibility will lie with the manufacturer.

To assist operators in specifying their vehicle, in addition to the sophisticated computer programmes that the sales team have on their laptops to help customers visualise how a finished vehicle will look and a Design Centre at the UK operation’s headquarters at Trafford Park, Manchester, there is a well equipped Design Centre at the MAN/Neoplan Bus Forum in Munich where operators can look at all of the existing material and colour options, as well as looking at examples of seats, servery units and other equipment that they may wish to specify.

On the way to the plant, Dave Parry was confident all would be in order with his coaches because he had seen photographs showing him that it would. Talking again on the way home he indicated that, ‘generally speaking, everything was fine. I wouldn’t say I found anything wrong except one letter in the signwriting: it said West Modlands.’ He had been through the coaches from top to bottom and made some changes, mainly to do with the lights because those illuminating the exterior he did not consider bright enough.

Dave added, ‘Everything we are doing in the UK – the mood lights and the down lights – they will do in the factory next year.’ He also found it reassuring that there was obviously continued investment being made in the Plauen plant.

Ian pointed out that, although the company had built an initial batch of the 12.99m long Starliner P11 model for the UK, it will not be building more stock examples because every one has needed a number of bespoke alterations to suit the needs of the operator purchasing it. For this reason, the retail price of £340,000 quoted on the website is a ‘from’ price.