OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2010. At its automobile plant, KAMAZ launched the Mayak project implemented jointly with Daimler (Germany), the Russian company’s strategic partner, and LeanCouching, a consultant to the European leading automobile enterprises on their production systems based on Lean Production.

Alongside with the managers of OJSC KAMAZ and the employees of the automobile plant, the representatives of the Russian company’s main partners in implementation of the Mayak project – Christoph Siegel, Head of the Production System of Daimler; Gert Haar-Jorgensen, Founder and Managing Director of LeanCouching; and Nigel Waring, Director of LeanCouching, participated in the event.

Developed as part of the agreement on strategic partnership of KAMAZ and Daimler signed at the end of 2008, the Mayak project is a process organization and control system stipulating changes, first of all, in KAMAZ’s vehicle assembly. All areas and aspects of activity of the automobile plant will be brought to conformity with the Production System of Daimler.

It is supposed that the Mayak project will greatly influence activities of KAMAZ’s other plants, services and outside suppliers. It corresponds both to practice of the Russian enterprises traditionally focusing on the finishing production and to experience of West European automobile business where assembly is an absolute “trendsetter” for the whole production string of enterprises.

KAMAZ has lately achieved a great breakthrough having developed and implemented its own production system which is the best and most effective program in the Russian automobile industry for today. Implementation of the Mayak project will be a great addition to and improvement of the KAMAZ Production System.

The changes made according to the project are to finally lead to vehicle production ramp-up on one line of the mother assembly conveyor of KAMAZ to 48 thousand units a year with double-shift operation. The second line of the mother assembly conveyor will be used to assemble low-volume and modernized vehicles, fine-tune assembly processes and prepare a new model range. Thus, development and mastering of production of new vehicles will move faster: they will go to the mass production conveyor being perfected and roll off the assembly line being of a higher quality.