WOLFSBURG, Germany — The sprawling Volkswagen facilities here include one of the largest auto assembly plants in the world with about 1 square mile under one roof — about the size of the principality of Monaco, according to the company.
FACT BOX
About 65 percent of vehicles made at VW’s Wolfsburg plant are made for export, officials said.
Bruno Henika, a spokesman for VW, said the plant makes the VW Golf and the Tiguan and Touareg sport utility vehicles.
“It’s a city inside a city,” he said, running 24 hours a day, five days a week. Recently, it has run weekend shifts as well, Mr. Henika said.
About 24,000 people work in production, and 3,000 vehicles a day are churned out of the massive facility. Workers commonly use bikes to get around.
VW’s entire Wolfsburg complex employs an estimated 48,000 people.
While the work force is large, there is a lot of automation inside the plant. For instance, 98 percent of the press shop, where vehicle roofs and doors are made, is automated, Mr. Henika said.
An estimated 2,700 tons of steel are used at the plant daily, he said, most of which comes from Germany.
Trevor Hamilton, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for economic development, said that checking out the plant gave the delegation a chance to see what’s in store for the city’s 2,000-employee VW plant when it opens in 2011.
“The technology and the manufacturing is tremendous,” he said.
Mike Pare, the deputy Business editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has worked at the paper for 27 years. In addition to editing, Mike also writes Business stories and covers Volkswagen, economic development and manufacturing in Chattanooga and the surrounding area. In the past he also has covered higher education. Mike, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University. he worked at the Rome News-Tribune before ...
Or login with:
New Account