Jan 1, 2005 12:00 PM

Federal and state officials joined Volvo Group executives and Mack Powertain Division employees to celebrate the beginning of the transformation of the Hagerstown MD facility into the North American Center of Excellence for powertrain operations of the Volvo Group.

In a ceremony at the Pennsylvania Avenue plant, Maryland Gov Robert L Ehrlich Jr, and the ambassador of Sweden to the United States, Jan Eliasson, joined officials from Mack and the Volvo Group in celebrating the start of construction on a new engine development laboratory building.

The new laboratory building will house testing areas and equipment, and will use the latest in communications and Internet-based technology to link with Volvo's other engine development facilities in Gothenberg, Sweden; Lyon, France; and Curitiba, Brazil.

This transformation project also includes a major investment in production areas within the plant. The investment will prepare the facility, which has been manufacturing Mack engines since 1961, to begin production of Volvo engines for Volvo Trucks North America early in 2005. Mack production will continue.