Wiesbaden-based engineering service provider EDAG has opened a new Development Centre at the Warmenau facility in Wolfsburg. In cooperation with investor Bertram Projektmanagement GmbH (Hanover), one of the most ambitious construction projects in the company's history has been completed in just one and a half years. EDAG Board Member Jörg Ohlsen (CEO of the EDAG Group) and Gerd Blaschke (EDAG Key Account Manager for VW) welcomed over 100 guests from the fields of politics and economics to the official opening ceremony – including Lord Mayor Klaus Mohrs and Thomas Krause (Board Member of Wolfsburg AG).
The new Development Centre in the direct vicinity of our customer Volkswagen covers an area of about 25,000 m², providing capacity for up to 1,100 engineering experts. Further, EDAG has set aside a 1,800 m² project house, in which customers and external companies can rent offices in which to carry out their projects. This houses up to 180 workplaces, all of which satisfy the strict security requirements for development tasks in the automotive environment, and have access to VW's network. In addition to this, 10,000 m² of factory space is also attached to the development centre, to enable further development-related services to be offered in the future. A modern light laboratory and test facilities for component testing in the field of climate and environmental simulation are already in operation there today.
Following the construction of the new building, the globally active engineering specialist for the automotive industry has brought together its seven existing offices in the Wolfsburg area at a single site. "More than any other business model, engineering is characterised by team work. Anyone who carries out the kind of complex complete vehicle development or production engineering projects that we do knows that multidisciplinary cooperation is a key success factor," explained Gerd Blaschke.
"At our new facility, we have now created excellent conditions for the interdisciplinary cooperation of our development teams, to convert ideas into ready-for-production concepts – in the direct vicinity of our customer Volkswagen.“
The EDAG Group has firmly established itself in the automotive sector as one of the world's leading engineering service providers. The company, which has had premises in the VW city since 1979, has continually expanded its competencies and capacity over the past few years.
"With our new Wolfsburg facility, we can offer our customers all-round local engineering service capacities for all aspects of the development of complete vehicles and production plants. We are in an excellent position to be able to handle complex, integrated development orders in the direct vicinity of Volkswagen," explained Jörg Ohlsen, CEO of EDAG Engineering GmbH. "What is more, our customers in Wolfsburg will, of course, have access to our global site network with a workforce of more than 8,000. Our interdisciplinary development teams in Wolfsburg are predestined for supervising and controlling major projects for our customer Volkswagen, also on an international basis."
In addition, the company is also particularly committed to channeling energy into staff training, one of the main pillars of junior staff development. There are currently approx. 60 young people at the site doing either an apprenticeship or a dual study course – and this includes 22 junior designers who embarked on their dream jobs in the engineering environment in time for the opening of the Development Centre.
"With EDAG, one of the world's largest engineering service providers to the automotive industry will continue to be represented in Wolfsburg in the future. I am delighted that this future-oriented company has chosen Wolfsburg as one of its central locations. The opening of EDAG's impressive Development Centre is a strong visual statement in favour of the city and of the location Wolfsburg. It shows that this is the home of the mobility of the future," said Lord Mayor Klaus Mohrs during the ceremony. "For Wolfsburg, the systematic and forward-looking planning of commercial space has paid off," said Lord Mayor Klaus Mohrs during the ceremony. Thomas Krause, Member of the Board of Wolfsburg AG added: "Securing the company's further existence on this scale strengthens the supplier status of the region and the entire regional automotive network."
The opening celebrations gave the visitors the chance to see for themselves the extent of EDAG's innovative ability. The celebrations included a technology exhibition at which two concept cars , the "EDAG Light Cocoon" and the EDAG "Soulmate", were on display, to affirm the engineering service provider's vision of the lightweight, networked future of the automobile.