ZF invests €800 million in Saarbrücken plant in Germany

Over the next four years, ZF will invest €800 million in its Saarbrücken site in Germany, the lead location of ZF’s transmission technology, in production plants and systems, infrastructure, and its supplier network for the transition from conventional to electric car drives.

“The share of hybrid drives in production will increase tenfold over the next few years – from five to 50 percent,” said Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG.

ZF is investing more than €3 billion worldwide in new products and its production network for transmission technology.
For the Saarbrücken plant, the ongoing electrification of the powertrain is both an opportunity and a challenge.

“We see the increasing market penetration of advanced hybrid drives as an opportunity, which in our view is much more than just a bridge technology,” said Mr Scheider.

“With longer ranges between 80 and 100 kilometres, they can complete the majority of all journeys electrically and thus help e-mobility to achieve a breakthrough more quickly.”

ZF’s order books show that the hybrid technology is in great demand. ZF is responding to this boom in demand with an investment program worth more than €3 billion for the further development and sustainability of these products.

If the development towards pure electromobility progresses as currently forecast in several studies, sales and thus also the workforce at the Saarbrücken plant will, however, decline in the long term.

In view of this development, ZF has launched a number of activities in Saarbrücken that are intended to significantly increase the plant’s international competitiveness.

These include, for example, a whole series of IoT projects. At the same time, these initiatives use artificial intelligence (AI) to provide quick and valuable decision-making aids for employees and thus increase efficiency.

“The fact that these effects will only occur in a few years’ time gives us the opportunity to prepare for them today,” says Stephan von Schuckmann, head of ZF’s Car Powertrain Technology Division.

“We want to prepare our employees for the mobility of the future with a wide range of training and qualification opportunities and more agile work structures.”