Volvo’s cabin plant in Brazil completes 25 years

By Redação AutoIndústria | Translated by Jorge Meditsch

Volvo Group’s cabin production unit in Curitiba, PR, completes 25 years. Inaugurated in 1998, it is considered one of the group’s most modern worldwide.

The cabin plant demanded an investment of about US$ 50 million, part of a US$ 400 million expansion plan in the country. It was intended to localize the FH lineup. From 1980, when it began to produce trucks in Brazil, to 1997, Volvo used to outsource the production of cabins for the N and NL lines.

Besides supporting the FH arrival, the cabin plant allowed the manufacturer to strengthen and expand its operation in South America, enabling it to produce the same products developed by the headquarters. Since its inauguration, the unit has produced 368 thousand cabins for the FH, FM, FMX, VM and VMX.

“25 years ago, producing cabins in Brazil was a dream. It was our entrance into a new truck era, which represented a bold technological revolution”, said Cyro Martins, Volvo’s Latin America industrial operations vice president, in a note.

Highly automated and with 4.0 Industry concepts, the plant has 515 employees. The processes include augmented reality, big data, the internet of things and 85 robots. “It is still Volvo’s most automatized unit in the Curitiba complex”, tells Martins.

Responsible for meeting both the daily truck production demand and post-sales, the plant broke its record last year, with 32 thousand units manufactured.

Photo: Volvo