Category: Slovakia

A major breakthrough came after 2018 when the Jaguar Land Rover launched production and with it the activities of its suppliers strengthened. For the purposes of practical teaching, the most modern Regional Training Centre in Slovakia will be used, equipped with top technology “Industry 4.0” designed for education.

We have joined the dual education program as early as 2018 when the first sixteen students started who will be graduating next spring. Today, the program has a total of 64 students, of whom 54 study mechatronics and 10 autotronics.

We are in contact even during the pandemic

The pandemic also affected mutual cooperation, as the students had distance learning but even then they were digitally in contact with their instructors at the plant. They used the summer months to organize the first summer academy, which was prepared by our Human Resources department in cooperation with colleagues from production technologies.

“I always like to take the opportunity to be in direct contact with our students. It is important that they have a good technical background for their studies, as they will be able to apply this knowledge in the automotive industry, which is evolving by leaps and bounds. For example, ongoing electrification brings a lot of new opportunities,” explains Russell Leslie, CEO of the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Nitra.

16 laptops for 16 students

New laptops, headphones, and other accessories worth a total of 16,000 euros should to help sixteen students of the 2nd year at their studies. They were handed over to them by representatives of our carmaker on Friday, November 19. One of them was Tony Bainbridge, Business Excellence Director responsible for innovation and improvement who stood at the birth of the cooperation with students. “I remember when I first visited the school. It was at a time when few people knew that JLR was coming to Slovakia and Olga (school principal) only knew that we were an investor, and we were looking for a partner with whom we would work in the field of education of our future employees. I said: We will definitely see each other soon – and our cooperation has been in place for 4 years already.”

“I really appreciate the cooperation we have with Jaguar Land Rover. It is a professional and intensive cooperation with experts in their profession. I am very proud that our school is a partner for the education of future experienced staff for such an important company as JLR, “said the school principal Oľga Hodálová.

Today, the private secondary vocational school DSA in Nitra is one of the most modern dual education centres in Slovakia. An important impulse for its development was the arrival of the Jaguar Land Rover, which meant a shift in the interest of the young generation of students from the Nitra region from traditional industries, e.g. food, to technology areas with high added value. This is evidenced by the fact that the most popular subject at school today is mechatronics.

The new Defender has been designed and developed in the UK, at Gaydon, home to Land Rover’s world-class design, engineering and testing facilities. The new home of global Defender production will be Land Rover’s recently opened state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Nitra, Slovakia.

On World Land Rover day 2019, Land Rover announced plans for the new Defender to complete a final phase of field testing with Tusk Trust, on location in Kenya.

A Defender prototype wearing a unique camouflage will experience life at the Borana Conservancy as part of Land Rover’s 15-year partnership with Tusk Trust. The prototype will tow heavy loads, wade through rivers and carry supplies across unforgiving terrain in a series of real-world trials at the 14,000-hectare reserve.

By the time the new Defender makes its public debut later this year, it will have passed more than 45,000 individual tests in some of the most extreme environments on earth. Land Rover engineers have taken the test fleet to the 50-degree heat of the desert, the sub 40-degree cold of the Arctic, as well as up to 10,000ft altitude of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to ensure the new Defender will take everyday life in its stride, for even its most adventurous customers.

The Jaguar Land Rover Recruitment Team attended the Profesia Days careers fair earlier this year and had the chance to talk to many people about the varied exciting opportunities we have at our Nitre Plant.

Marking the latest step in the company’s global expansion strategy, after opening facilities in China and Brazil, the new 300,000m² plant is capable of building more than 150,000 vehicles per year.

The plant also has a number of cutting-edge technologies including Europe’s first Kuka Pulse carrier system, which improves transfer times by more than 30% over conventional conveyance systems.

The Nitra site has also been future-proofed to allow Jaguar Land Rover to improve process efficiency, delivery and quality through using smart, connected manufacturing technologies, such as shop floor visualisation.

At the opening ceremony, Professor Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover CEO, said the Slovakia facility marks the latest milestone in the company’s globalisation programme.

“Our plant in Nitra will strengthen our manufacturing operations and complement existing facilities in the UK, China, Brazil, India and Austria,” he adds.

“I am delighted to officially welcome our Slovak team to the Jaguar Land Rover global family.”

The competition which took place at Jaguar Land Rover’s Nitra plant saw nearly 50 students get involved, as Columba Racing from High School Poštová 9 in Košice claimed their third title in a row and will be representing Slovakia at the world finals in April.

Wings Racing Team from Košice’s Secondary School of Electrotechnics and ATG Tech from Nitra’s Private Secondary Technical School of Electrotechnics finished second and third respectively.

Slovakia’s Land Rover 4×4 in Schools Technology Challenge was organised in co-operation with Junior Achievement Slovensko and supported by the President of Nitra, Milan Belica.