VW EXPANSION
* Cost: $900 million ($600 million in Tennessee) * Product: New seven-seat SUV * Size: 642,000 square feet * Jobs: 2,000 more workers * Added work: National engineering and planning center; downtown welcome center Source: Volkswagen
One Volkswagen construction official Friday described the job of expanding the automaker's Chattanooga assembly plant as more like conducting "open heart surgery" at the site.
"We're adding capacity and capability," said David Calfee, VW's manager of construction planning.
For the first time since the $900 million project began, VW offered an on-site view of a portion of the work at the factory. The German carmaker is aiming to jump-start production of a new sport utility vehicle late next year in Chattanooga to help boost its U.S. sales.
Work is well underway at both ends of the plant's body shop to add about 300,000 square feet, Calfee said. Some exterior walls are gone and new steel and concrete are going up. Nearly a dozen pieces of heavy equipment were at that building site at the plant that opened in 2011.
David Calfee, left, manager of construction planning, and Harry White, senior manager of Volkswagen's body shop, talk about the construction work that is well underway at the automaker's Chattanooga plant."Weather has been a challenge for us," Calfee said about the heavy rains seen in the Chattanooga area over the past month or so, adding that the project is on schedule.
Harry White, senior manager for body shop production, said that big changes are taking place inside as well.
The number of robots used in the shop for production will nearly double with the addition of 350 of the units, he said.
Workers are installing the modular transverse toolkit, an innovative and money-saving way of assembling cars that VW says is groundbreaking to the industry. Also dubbed MQB, the production method will underpin the new SUV and ultimately the midsize Passat sedan that's assembled in the factory.
"We're adding flexibility for future product lines," White noted.
In about two weeks, work will kick off in the massive plant's assembly shop where about 300,000 square feet will be added there, Calfee said.
In addition, demolition work has begun in the plant's sophisticated paint shop, he said. A second paint line featuring more robots, tanks and pumps will be installed.
Scott Wilson, the plant's head of communications, said hiring for new production workers won't start until next year.
But, he said, hiring has begun for the new national VW engineering and planning center. That facility is to employ about 200 engineers and others making sure the German company is designing and building vehicles fitting the needs of American motorists.
In all, VW plans to add 2,000 more workers to the 2,400 which already are employed by the automaker in Chattanooga.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.