N3 Engine Overhaul Services (N3) officially marked the start of its expansions with a ground-breaking ceremony on February 23. The joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce is expanding its building complex. The main construction works that are now beginning include the expansion of the cleaning line for engine components to double process capacity. The state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant that goes with it saves energy and reduces freshwater consumption by up to 90%. Furthermore, construction of a 6,000 m² extension to the existing production hall to expand the technical machining centres and assembly areas. Construction of a new logistics building, which will also include automated storage systems, is scheduled to begin in autumn. The expansion will take place while operations continue and with increasing capacity utilisation.
A future upgrade was already taken into consideration during the planning and construction of the facility between 2005 and 2007 and the areas on the 12-hectare site were planned accordingly. Carsten Behrens, Managing Director at N3, emphasises: “The decision of the parent companies to continue the long-term development of the joint venture values the expertise and extensive experience the team has built up over 17 years with Rolls-Royce Trent engines, including the latest generation of the Trent 1000.”
According to Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Tiefensee, who helped open the plant in 2007 as Federal Minister of Transport, N3 has become a permanent part of the Thuringian business landscape in the more than one and a half decades of its existence: “N3 sets standards in terms of quality, reliability and innovative capacity, making it a flagship for Thuringia as a high-tech location far beyond the borders of the federal state. With the expansion of the company here at the ‘Erfurter Kreuz', N3 is opening a new chapter in its Thuringian success story. This sends out a strong signal of new momentum, especially in the current economic climate. As an attractive employer, N3 is making a decisive contribution to the creation of qualified jobs. This is a tailwind for our strategy of retaining skilled labour in the region and attracting new talents, also from abroad.”
N3 has developed its own professional qualification programme for career changers and has been training its own specialists since the start of operations. The company now has six vocational training programmes in its portfolio. “In order to counter the shortage of skilled labour, we are also expanding our international recruiting measures,” says Stefan Landes, Commercial Managing Director of N3. “A welcoming corporate culture is essential for the sustainable development of the location.”
