Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2017)82

Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine Europe B.V.
Expanding Mitsubishi Turbo from Europe to the world

M i ts u b i s h i Tu r b o c h a r g e r a n d E n g i n e
E u r o p e B . V.

Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine Europe B.V. (hereafter MTEE) is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd. (hereafter MHIET).
Established in Europe, MTEE is engaged in the manufacture, design, and development of
Mitsubishi turbochargers and serves as the point of contact with European automobile
manufacturers as the largest base for turbo charger production for MHIET.

|1. Introduction
Environmental regulations for vehicles are mainly intended for the reduction of CO2
emissions, and the trend toward the enhancement of such regulations has been accelerating globallyin recent years. In particular, European environmental regulations precede those of the otherregions, and turbochargers have been adopted for European diesel engines as a solution forenvironmental regulations for quite some time.
A turbocharger consists of a turbine that receives exhaust gas from the engine and acompressor that is connected coaxially with the turbine. The turbine collects exhaust gas energy
and then the compressor driven by the collected energy boosts the air into the engine. In this way, aturbocharger contributes to the reduction of exhaust gas emissions. In Europe, turbochargers haveattracted attention as a method for reducing CO2 emissions using small-sized gasoline engines(reduction of engine displacement without degradation of engine power output) in recent years, andthe demand for turbochargers is expected to grow further in the future.
With such a background, MHIET has pursued the enhancement of the development ability ofMTEE, which was the manufacturing and design base of MHIET in Europe, and has established astructure by which the demands of European customers can be swiftly met as its second
development base.

|2. Chronology of MTEEMTEE is located in the Netherlands, roughly at the center of Europe (Figure 1). The numberof plants was expanded to five in 2009 and the company was renamed to the current Mitsubishi
Turbocharger and Engine Europe B.V., with "turbocharger" included in the name. The chronologyof the company is as follows:1980 MHI Samofa Diesel B.V. was established.
1988 Renamed MHI Equipment Europe B.V. (MEE)1989 Relocated to Almere
1991 Production of turbochargers of MHIET started in Europe
The Netherlands has long served as the gateway to Europe due to its geographical location.
The country has the Port of Rotterdam, the largest in Europe, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, amajor hub airport for logistics by air in Europe. Located on the European continent, theNetherlands is also suitable for land transportation. For these reasons, MTEE can receive parts
stably from around the world and can also supply finished products swiftly to customers.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2017)
83

Figure 1

MTEE locations|3. Products of MTEEMHIET has a broad lineup of automobile turbochargers, and MTEE produces a significant
number of products for both gasoline and diesel engines.
Figure 2 shows one of the most conventional turbochargers. This turbocharger, which ischaracterized by its low cost, small size, and light weight, is adopted by many small-displacement
gasoline and diesel engines today, and not only handles environmental regulations but also
contributes to the enhancement of general vehicle user satisfaction due to the improvement ofengine power output and drivability. For higher-displacement engines with four or more cylinders
and high-performance gasoline engines, technologies such as a twin scroll turbocharger (Figure 3)
or a twin turbocharger that uses two conventional small turbochargers are adopted. These
technologies provide a significant amount of torque even to a low engine speed range. For
high-performance diesel engines, a variable geometry (VG) turbocharger (Figure 4) is also achoice. The VG turbocharger controls the variable nozzle located in the upstream of the turbine
rotor blade to realize the characteristics of both small and large turbochargers and enable theenhancement of the engine torque in a low engine speed range and the engine power output in ahigh engine speed range. The demand for diesel engines in the European market is still highest, andtherefore MTEE put many VG turbochargers on the market. In recent years, VG turbochargers forgasoline engines have also attracted attention and demand is expected to expand significantly in thefuture.

Figure 2

Conventional waste gate turbocharger

Figure 3

Twin scroll turbocharger

Figure 4

VG turbocharger

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2017)84|4. Manufacture and supply chain
Turbochargers are customized according to customer requests and their final assembly iscarried out on an exclusive line for each product. MTEE has been proceeding with the automationof turbocharger assembly lines, utilizing extensive experience gained over many years, and hashalved the number of operators in comparison with that in its startup era. (Figure 5)

Figure 5

Turbocharger assembly line

MTEE procures parts from suppliers around the world through the supply chain connecting
to other MHIET bases. The supply chain mainly controls the quality management of suppliers in
Europe and the delivery of parts from Europe to the bases. In addition, turbochargers designed by
MTEE are produced by Mitsubishi turbocharger bases all over the world including Mitsubishi
Turbocharger Asia Co., Ltd. (MTA) in Thailand, Shanghai MHI Turbocharger Co., Ltd. (SMTC) inChina, and Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine America, Inc. (MTEA) in North America(Figure 6) in response to the expansion of global production of users. MTEE also plays animportant role in the control of such global production.

Figure 6

Global bases of Mitsubishi turbochargers|5. MTEE's technological abilities and functions
MTEE designs the mass production of turbochargers according to requests of customers
based on core technologies developed by MHIET in Japan. Many leading auto manufacturers
around the world are concentrated in Europe and to respond to technological requests from such
top-tier manufacturers, MTEE has worked on the enhancement of its technological abilities by
setting up the design department in 2003 and the development department in 2013, which aremostly concentrated in Europe. In particular, MTEE serves as the contact point to receive new
requests from customers and is contributing to winning new projects through cooperation withMHIET.
The development department focuses on CAE (computer aided engineering) for theestablishment of accurate engine performance simulation systems and for the support of productdevelopment. Furthermore, the department has facilities for evaluations of turbochargers onMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2017)85

engines and facilities to do complete evaluations of turbochargers without engines. These facilities
will be expanded in the next two years in order to satisfy customer demands for sophisticateddevelopment with reduced lead-time.
MTEE conducts varied joint research in Europe including in the Netherlands with
globally-prestigious universities and research institutions. Through these activities, MTEE canacquire capable students, and also strives to upgrade its technological abilities by helping its
employees acquire Ph. D, thus cultivating highly specialized engineers. In this way, the company ismaking efforts for the enhancement of technological abilities. Furthermore, the Dutch generally
have a good command of German and French, as well as English. Communicating with employeesof German and French automobile manufacturers using their mother language contributes to theimprovement of customer satisfaction.

|6. Future expansion
The turbocharger industry faces increasingly fierce competition as demand for turbochargers
is increasing on a global scale. For our sustainable development despite this situation, MTEE willcontinue to make efforts for enhancing turbocharger technologies and the customer satisfactionlevel, and is willing to assist with the processes to provide the world with a clean environment.