Hitachi Rail has officially opened its lighthouse digital factory in Maryland to deliver railcars for customers across North America, including metros in the Washington DC area, Baltimore and Philadelphia, with orders totalling over 600 railcars.
The USD 100 million new 307,000 sq. ft. site carbon neutral facility includes over USD 30 million invested in digital enhancements.
The site has been inaugurated on September 8th, by the Executive Chairman of Hitachi Toshiaki Higashihara, President & CEO of Hitachi, Toshiaki Tokunaga and Group CEO of Hitachi Rail, Giuseppe Marino.
The lighthouse digital factory will also include a demonstration of One Hitachi’s technologies via an immersive and interactive customer experience centre. The digital enhancements aim at optimisation of quality, and delivery, as well as the business’ wider solutions from modern signalling to Hitachi’s pioneering HMAX platform, which uses AI to optimise railway assets – an application of Lumada 3.0.*
The plant has been designed with a focus on high quality production and customer value creation. The smart factory harnesses real-time supply chain and manufacturing monitoring, local component manufacturing using 3D printing and on-site additive manufacturing for spares and tooling, and full transparency on product quality.
The plant emits zero CO2 emissions, combining solar panels and additional electricity needs fulfilled by an agreement to source 100% renewable electricity. The site includes substantial plantings and AI systems that monitor and optimise energy consumption efficiency. The plant will operate with zero landfill waste from day one and save 800,000 kg of CO2 annually through its solar panels.
The factory will sustain 1,300 jobs with up to 460 working directly for Hitachi Rail on site in roles that will harness AI and smart manufacturing principles and offer next-generation manufacturing careers. The total added value of the new digital site is set to be more than USD 350 million per year, bringing major economic benefits to the DC, Maryland and Virginia regions.
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