Tognum transforms former SKL Motor into MTU Reman

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 — MTU parent Tognum AG has renamed its SKL Motor GmbH subsidiary in Magdeburg, Germany, as MTU Reman Technologies GmbH and has re-equipped its plant for the standardized reconditioning of MTU engines and components.

After extended service lives of as much as 25,000 hours, many MTU engines now undergo a rejuvenation course in Magdeburg from which, says Tognum, they emerge as good as new.

The Magdeburg facility develops methods and processes for reconditioning components and complete engines and employs them on a large industrial scale. The expertise at the Magdeburg plant is shared with the other Tognum Group remanufacturing sites in order to ensure the same reconditioning standards worldwide.

This latest role marks a new chapter in a nearly 175 year old engineering story. What is now MTU Reman Technologies GmbH has its roots in the Magdeburger Dampfschifffahrts-Compagnie founded in 1838. Out of that grew the Buckau-Wolf engineering works and, in the time of the German Democratic Republic, the state-owned “Schwermaschinenbau Karl Liebknecht” (SKL), which produced diesel engines for the Iron Curtain countries and export to many other countries.

After the collapse of the GDR, SKL was broken up into several separate corporations and MTU Reman Technologies GmbH is the descendant of the subsequently established SKL Motor GmbH.

After taking over SKL Motor in 2008, the Tognum Group reequipped the facility as a remanufacturing technology center.

“We started off with the remaining 80 staff in 2008. We now employ 285 people, which means we have more than tripled the workforce and created over 200 new jobs,” says Wilfried Probian, CEO of MTU Reman Technologies, adding that, to date, Tognum has invested more than 20 million euros in the enterprise.

As well as engine remanufacturing, the Tognum Group carries out research into the engines of the future in Magdeburg. New combustion processes, combustion chamber geometries and alternative fuels are investigated on single-cylinder test benches.