Daimler Truck has achieved a significant milestone with the first Mercedes eCitaro electric bus rolling off the production lines at their plant in Ligny-en-Barrois Daimler Truck is investing approximately 50 million euros by 2030 to enhance the Ligny-en-Barrois plant’s capacity to produce […] Daimler Truck has achieved a significant milestone with the first Mercedes eCitaro electric bus rolling off the production lines at their plant in Ligny-en-Barrois, France, as the OEM stated on Linkedin As part of a broader strategy, Daimler Truck is investing approximately 50 million euros by 2030 to enhance the Ligny-en-Barrois plant’s capacity to produce electric buses This substantial investment will also lead to the creation of 250 additional jobs In addition to the production of electric buses, according to information available so far, the Ligny-en-Barrois plant will continue to produce diesel buses, although the primary focus will remain on the Citaro series. This move is part of a broader agreement between Daimler Buses and the general works council aimed at ensuring long-term competitiveness and the future of German sites The Mannheim plant in Germany will become the center of competence for electric city buses focusing exclusively on the production of electrically powered city buses starting in 2024 the Ligny-en-Barrois plant will produce electric buses and the Neu-Ulm plant will manufacture electric intercity buses and buses with battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell drive systems the complete bus bodyshell construction for the Ligny-en-Barrois and Neu-Ulm plants will be carried out at the Holýšov site in the Czech Republic further streamlining production processes across Europe © Copyright 2012 - 2025 | Vado e Torno Edizioni | All rights reserved | P.I The first eCitaro all-electric bus has rolled off the production line in Ligny-en-Barrois Daimler Buses will invest around 50 million euros in the French location by 2030 for this purpose Since Daimler is planning to produce electric buses alongside diesel buses the German bus maker has acquired three hectares of land to expand the plant An official announcement by the manufacturer on electric bus production in France is still pending Media reports state that 250 additional jobs are planned with the conversion and modernisation of the new site The bus news site revealed that both the 12-metre and the 18-metre versions of the eCitaro are to be built in Ligny-en-Barrois At the beginning of March Daimler Buses announced that it would turn its German plant in Mannheim into a centre of excellence for e-city buses this will focus entirely on producing electrically powered city buses and become more involved in component production the second German plant in Neu-Ulm will also produce electrically powered intercity buses and coaches with battery-electric and fuel cell drive systems At the Global Public Transport Summit (GPTS) from 4 to 7 June 2023 in Barcelona, Daimler Buses will present the eCitaro with a fuel cell as a range extender which will be available as an articulated bus shortly afterwards Daimler Busses France has presented the first eCitaro produced on-site at Ligny-en-Barrois in eastern France The initial plan to produce the electric bus there from the first quarter of 2024 was apparently delayed though the manufacturer did not give an explanation as to why Judging by the picture published by Daimler Buses the electric bus now completed is a 12-metre version The eCitaro is also available as an 18-metre variant sustainable-bus.com, linkedin.com (Update) I agree with the Privacy policy electrive has been following the development of electric mobility with journalistic passion and expertise since 2013 we offer comprehensive coverage of the highest quality — as a central platform for the rapid development of this technology Daimler Truck has announced plans to produce the Mercedes eCitaro at their plant in Ligny-en-Barrois This move is part of the group’s investment of approximately 50 million euros by 2030 to expand the production of electric buses at the French location The conversion and modernization of the plant are expected to create 250 additional […] Daimler Truck has announced it has acquired three hectares of land to expand the Ligny-en-Barrois plant in order to accommodate the production of both diesel and electric buses the Citaro series vehicles will remain the primary focus at this location The French market cannot be anything but of great interest to Daimler Truck as, in the past four years, with the exception of 2020, it has been the largest in the continent for buses and coaches over 8 ton (more figures and analysis on European bus markets 2019-2022 on the latest issue of Sustainable Bus magazine the market share of the eCitaro has so far been residual in the country Earlier this year, Daimler Buses and the general works council of EvoBus GmbH have agreed on a deal in order to ensure long-term competitiveness and the German sites The Mannheim plant is set to become the center of competence for electric city buses and focus exclusively on the production of electrically powered city buses starting in 2024 while the Neu-Ulm plant will manufacture electric intercity buses and buses with battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell drive systems the complete bus bodyshell construction for the Ligny-en-Barrois Mannheim and Neu-Ulm plants will be carried out at the Holýšov site in the Czech Republic beginning in 2028 French lens producer Essilor Group will be introducing new optical solutions related to problem screening prevention and protection at the upcoming China International Import Expo (CIIE) which will take place in Shanghai in November The company will also have professional optometrists to serve customers at the expo providing services such as eye health screening Two new optometry-related instruments from Essilor will also be making their Asia Pacific debut at the CIIE "The cutting-edge instruments will make the screening and refraction processes more comfortable precise and effective," said Kok Leong Lim president of the Essilor China lens division Myopia is one of the most common health problems among Chinese youths Statistics from the National Health Commission has shown that the myopia rate among children and teenagers in the country reached 53.6 percent last year and it was as high as 81 percent among senior high school students China's central and provincial-level governments have since set goals of reducing the rate among youths The company said that it will join hands with the Shanghai Association for School Health Care to officially launch a training program during the CIIE to educating students and parents about proper eye care Essilor has launched a new range of specialist ophthalmic lenses designed for patients with complex vision needs that cannot be corrected using its standard lens portfolio is produced in a dedicated lab in Ligny-en-Barrois the lenses are produced by hand to give full personalisation Over seven million people worldwide need specialist ophthalmic lenses The company showed off its manufacturing capability by setting the world record for a specialist lens power Slovakian photographer Jan Miskovic (pictured) who suffers from a number of complex eye conditions received lenses with -108.00 and -106.00 dioptres and 6.00 cylinder The bi-concave double asymmetrical convex facet lens was made from glass in 1.8 index with an anitreflective Superdiafal applied to the front surface Register now to access up to 10 news and opinion articles a month Already have an account? Sign in here Optician magazine is the leading independent Every issue of Optician is packed full of the latest news insights and information for optical professionals Essilor Group signed a strategic partnership agreement with Chinese internet giant Tencent this week in Shenzhen as the French ophthalmic optics company moves to strengthen its presence in the Chinese market and push forward with digital transformation in the country the two companies will leverage their industry insights and innovation advantages to increase public awareness of visual health provide innovative digital solutions and offer more professional and efficient vision care services to Chinese people China is one of the world's largest ophthalmic markets The country has nearly 700 million people with myopia According to a 2019 report by the World Health Organization about 67 percent of Chinese adolescents living in cities suffer from myopia The number of Chinese people suffering from other ophthalmic diseases such as glaucoma cataracts and xerophthalmia is also increasing at a high rate "Essilor and Tencent share the same dedication to improving the current state of vision health in China through public education and innovation," said Arnaud Ribadeau Dumas president of Essilor Greater China and the Global Instruments Division "We aim to eliminate poor vision from the world in one generation And we can only achieve this goal by working with partners like Tencent to achieve greater reach and awareness." senior executive vice-president and president of the Cloud & Smart Industries Group at Tencent said healthcare has been a main focus area for the company "We hope to play the role of 'digital assistant' and use Tencent's consumer-to-business advantages to help partners serve their consumers and patients better Essilor has been working in China for decades and has accumulated valuable experiences and insights We look forward to combining our strengths to benefit all players in the industry," Tong said While Essilor is actively promoting digital transformation especially with regard to leveraging digital assets and exploring new market trends cooperation with Tencent will help the company accelerate its pace of digitalization in China Le véhicule Sprinter est un produit de Mercedes-Benz AG La filiale française est renommée Daimler Buses France SASU elle a fêté le 15 000ème véhicule produit depuis son ouverture l'assemblage de modèles interurbains SETRA est de retour sur le site de Ligny-en-Barrois Internet : https://locations.daimlertruck.com/en/career/locations/detail/sarcelles-daimler-buses-france- takes over the management of Daimler Buses France who is taking on the role of Head of Production Western Europe at Daimler Buses Ulrich Loebich will become the new CEO of Daimler Truck France on […] Ulrich Loebich will become the new CEO of Daimler Truck France on March 1 In his new role as Head of Production Western Europe, Holger Duerrfeld will be in charge of the various sites in Daimler Buses’ Western European production network, which includes Ligny-en-Barrois in Lorraine (where a €50M investment is underway) Holýšov (Czech Republic) and Sámano (Spain) Holger Duerrfeld moves from CEO of Daimler Buses France to Head of Production Western Europe. He joined the Daimler Group in 1992. Duerrfeld has been CEO of Daimler Buses (formerly EvoBus) in France, one of the largest bus and coach markets in Europe he became Chief Financial Officer of EvoBus France Holger Duerrfeld was Chairman of EvoBus Italy the flagship projects carried out under Holger Duerrfeld’s management include building a diverse international team transforming the company by modernising it and leading it to its name change from EvoBus France to Daimler Buses France in July 2023 strengthening after-sales services with more than 70 service outlets in France the introduction on the French market of the eCitaro and the eCitaro fuel cell or the new generation of the Setra 500 series and finally the preparation of the production of the 100% electric eCitaro at the Ligny-en-Barrois site which should start this year Henri Paccalin began his career in 1997 at Daimler-Benz France He covered the position of Market Manager for Vans in 2004 he was appointed Senior Manager at EvoBus GmbH in Mannheim (now Daimler Buses) he has been Chairman and CEO of Daimler Truck France (formerly Mercedes-Benz Trucks France) He has also been President VI of the Chambre Syndicale des Importateurs Constructeurs (CSIAM) since 2022 Head of Essilor talks about forthcoming tech advancement including a smartphone app that can detect eye problems The most earth-shattering news in the eyewear market recently is undoubtedly the merger announced in early 2017 between French lens maker Essilor and the Italian eyewear frame maker Luxottica－both the industry No 1 in their respective sectors European Union antitrust regulators were set to clear the 46 billion euro ($56.6 billion) merger without asking for concessions The deal would create a company that makes products from Ray-Bans to Giorgio Armani frames and has its own major eyeglass retail outlets this is vital for the eyewear industry because there is not yet a powerful leader Passionate about the career to which he has devoted years Sagnieres is very much concerned about people's inadequate awareness regarding vision He quotes numbers from time to time to show the seriousness: Out of the 7.3 billion people in the world And 2.5 billion of them do not have access to eyewear products or treatment services The cost of poor vision is around $300 billion every year But he is also optimistic about the forthcoming changes brought about by technology advancement He foresees a time soon when people will come to a general worldwide realization that visual health matters in the same way appreciation for dental health became so prevalent 20 years ago In an exclusive interview with China Daily Sagnieres talked about his understanding of the Chinese market his predictions for the eyewear sector and his passion for this industry What are the reasons for the partnerships with two Chinese companies－Photosynthesis Group and Jiangsu Creasky Optical 800 million Chinese people need vision correction but only a few hundreds of them have really corrected their vision The biggest vision issue in China is myopia our first purpose in China is to enlarge our capacity of production That's why we have done a number of partnerships in the past few years But we have a unique way of doing business We do not do acquisitions in China but rather partner with local talents We identify companies which have developed some unique businesses and take a piece of equity of their businesses We will give them support in marketing and technology so that they can develop their business Essilor is actually running more than 600 of that type of equity partnerships in the world How can your Chinese partners leverage Essilor's assets and expertise We are doing two things－helping the local brands to go into optics and taking the brands internationally we are helping them to deliver more quality products in vision Bolon has started to provide optical products with our technology We strongly believe that we have to take strong middle-class domestic Chinese brands worldwide We have invested heavily in such publicity We are also opening stores of Bolon brand in Canada We are developing optical lines of products with their brands and helping them to develop internationally We would like to help them transform their design and adapt their products to the more international customers of America or Europe Do you have any specific business models in China They have evolved over time in the remote areas of China They belong to hospitals and go into the countryside registering the health conditions of everyone We are also selling them eye lenses for basically eight to 10 yuan ($1.26-1.58) They make a little profit by reselling them to the villagers for about 20 to 30 yuan each there are some small healthcare centers providing services like massage We train these staff for a week to sell eyeglasses as a supplement to revenues For many places where there is no optical source there are always some China Mobile rechargeable stations We train the owners and the employees for one week on optics and make them able to do a very simple eye test so that they can actually recommend eyeglasses This is the type of business model that we have developed in about 46 countries in the world where the points of sales are missing Opening stores is very complicated and costly But we leverage some of the other resources What are the products frequently sought out by consumers in the first-and second-tier cities in China which is especially popular among the so-called millenials which is a filter that can cut the blue ray The good blue rays go into the brain and keep people awake at day and sleepy at night helping people to regulate their life cycle So we have developed a specific kind of filter which can let the good blue rays coming into the eye and the brain eventually but cut the bad ones that would cause black spots on the retina one of the biggest solutions is Ortho-K contact lenses Children wear them at night as a kind of treatment and they will not need to wear glasses in the morning What do you think are the major challenges of your company's operation in China But the normal situation worldwide is one store for 7,000 people to ensure good services So we are missing like 50,000 stores or access points which means a mix of online and offline stores people will need refraction or examination for their vision so that we need to have that kind of store to know at which stage the user is People should be aware that good vision is not granted for life Parents should have their children's vision regularly checked Myopia management is always important in China How are online sales going in China and globally so far online sales contribute about 7 percent to the company's sales worldwide But our online sunglasses activity represents today 20 percent of all our sunglasses business It's a little less in corrective lenses in China Purchasing eyeglasses in China is still complicated because of the eye exams But online sales of sunglasses is much more in the country We are boosting (online) with various programs We are selling on all the platforms such as Tmall We have launched online stores for sunglass brands like Bolon We are also hooked onto many mobile phone applications one of which can help consumers try on our eyeglasses online What prompted the merger of Essilor and Luxottica We have filed antitrust in 20 countries and so far 11 countries have given us the green light The merger is likely to complete at the end of the first semester in 2018 We are on a journey of eradicating poor vision in the world Even though we now have several Bolon stores we are still not an expert in opening stores The world needs 400,000 new stores to give consumers the access The optical industry is so important to people's lives The industry is now 100 billion euros in value I would like to give vision and voice to this industry What are your predictions for the future trend of this industry in the next few years People will be able to take the eye exam with their smartphones we launched a massive contest to all the geeks making the apps in the world which is called the "see change challenge" Now we have narrowed down to 15 technologies that actually work The most exciting app is the one using big data analysis the ways your eyes are in the picture go to the cloud and are later analyzed versus millions of other eyes The doctor can detect from that the patient's need in vision correction by applying a little bit of artificial intelligence into the iPhone on analyzing the picture the doctor can go a step further in terms of the accuracy of the data We have sent hundreds of so-called eye ambassadors in the world who go to the very remote areas and take pictures of people's eyes when people just need a little formula to choose contact lenses or to pick up the right frame they can take the exam just on the smartphones