Mercedes Plant

The Mercedes-Benz plant in Kecskemét was the company’s first passenger-car production facility in Hungary. Preparation and design of the greenfield development began in 2008, followed by construction in 2009. The approximately 300,000-square-metre complex had to integrate body production, painting, assembly, logistics and administration into a single, continuous operating system.

The industrial campus comprises 16 buildings, including four large production halls and a central office building. Construction began with the paint shop, followed by the body shop and assembly buildings. The plant was initially designed for an annual production capacity of more than 100,000 compact vehicles.

CÉH zRt. contributed building design and project management services. On an industrial development of this scale, one of the principal engineering tasks was to coordinate production technology with the building structures, mechanical and electrical systems, and the internal and external logistics routes.

The project was the first within the Mercedes-Benz production network to be developed using comprehensive three-dimensional digital design. Coordinating the factory buildings, technical systems and production lines within a shared digital environment supported the verification of technological interfaces, precise construction scheduling and control of project costs.

A dedicated industrial railway connection formed part of the site’s logistics system. It enabled a proportion of incoming materials and completed vehicles to be transported by rail rather than road. The plant incorporated advanced production and building technologies designed to reduce environmental impact and improve the efficiency of energy and material use.

Trial production began in autumn 2011, and the first Mercedes-Benz passenger car manufactured in Hungary was completed in spring 2012. With the official opening of the plant on 29 March 2012, Kecskemét became part of the international Mercedes-Benz compact-vehicle production network.