The biggest success of the first year of operations of the Research and Development Centre (CBR) in Wieluń was the unveiling of the Curtain Master semi-trailer. At the same time Wielton engineers are adamant that works on further modern vehicles are underway.
The Research and Development Centre which began operations in February 2016 is the only facility of its kind in Poland and one of two in Europe. Just seven months following the start of its operations, the company presented the modern Curtain Master semi-trailer in Hanover – the first vehicle designed and built at the CBR.
– Despite its low weight, our new semi-trailer features an unusually rigid and robust structure. At the same time, it is much more functional as compared to previous generation models – says Mariusz Golec, Wielton Group President of the Management Board.
He also adds that the 150-man team of experienced engineers has already began works on further vehicles, which the Wielton Group will be looking to add to its range of products in the future.
Wielton vehicles are not only robust and functional, put primarily reliable and thus safe. In order to ensure users, receive top quality products, a special position MTSA simulation position was established at CBR, which makes it possible to detect possible faults already at the test stage.
– Our simulator fully reflects the changeability of actual conditions faced by the semi-trailers. Thus, we are able to check how a vehicle will act after travelling for half a million kilometres within the space of 4-5 weeks. That is a distance which semi-trailers usually cover within 4-5 years of use – says President Mariusz Golec.
CBR is also a place where students from the Silesian University of Technology’s Mechanical Engineering Faculty develop their skills, a university where since October 2016 Wielton has been sponsoring a subject. The company has prepared active internship programmes for them, during which future engineers are discovering what it takes to works as part of a team here. Thus, they actively participate in research on new vehicles and acquire experience, which in future will help them to find an attractive and well paid job.
– In our country, the cooperation between science and business constitutes vast, untapped potential. We are looking to change that, and the initial months of our new subject clearly show that the strategy which we adopted was spot on. The faculty attracts very able and ambitious students, who have an opportunity to learn how to forge theory into practice thanks to the internship programmes. I am sure that some of them will join the Wielton team – says Mariusz Golec.