Continental AG sets up a center of excellence in Hamburg

Continental AG is continuing to expand its operations at its Hamburg-Harburg site in order to turn it into a “technical campus” for several of its business units.

As part of an ongoing investment project, the ContiTech plant is expanding the production of air spring systems used by the local public transport operator Hamburger Hochbahn. In addition, Conti has invested in the establishment of a new training facility for staff development, as well as a digital innovation center and a plastics competence center.

As a result, the plant, Continental AG reports, has been transformed “from a rubber recycling facility to a center for the production of the mobile systems of the future - both on-road and off-road,” said Dr. Peter Scholtissek, Head of Business Unit in Harburg. Despite the new emphasis on the mobility of the future, the factory's traditional rubber compounding will remain an integral part of its operations. "Rubber is extremely important to the modern world and is the key to pioneering development and technical innovation," added Peter Scholtissek.

As part of the move towards the mobility of the future, Continental last year signed a partnership with the city of Hamburg to jointly develop Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Conti works closely with technology transfer company Tutech and the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH) to develop smart projects, primarily focused on the Internet of Things and cloud application development.

According to Conti, the goal of the collaboration is to develop solutions that add a “digital component” to ContiTech's existing range of rubber and plastic products, creating the foundation for new digital business models.

In the future, all of ContiTech's global innovation and digitalization activities will be coordinated by the new innovation center in Hamburg.

The Harburg plant, originally a Phoenix AG production site, was acquired by Continental in 2004. It traditionally manufactures rubber products, including sound and vibration insulation, belt conveyors and specialized industrial hose systems.