Volkswagen Poznań GmbH Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Poznan, Swarzędz and Września plants and components plant (foundry)

Volkswagen Poznań GmbH Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Poznan, Swarzędz and Września plants and components plant (foundry)

Volkswagen Poznań GmbH

The head office of Volkswagen Poznań, part of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand, is located in Poznań/Poland, the capital of the region of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland). Volkswagen Poznań has four production plants: two plants in Poznań/Swarzędz, the Crafter plant in Wrzesnia and the components plant (foundry) situated in Poznan. At its four plants, Volkswagen Poznan employs about 11.000 people. The distance from Poznań to the capital city of Warsaw and to Berlin is about 300 km.

Employees

The workforce has grown in line with the expansion in production. Nowadays, Volkswagen Poznań employs more than 9,000 11.000 employees. Volkswagen Poznań is the largest employer in the region, which represents both a challenge and a mission. The objective is not only to be the largest employer but also the best employer.

Training is one of the top priorities for Volkswagen Poznań. In order to meet the growing demand for qualified personnel, the company established Vocational Training in cooperation with a school near Poznań in 2005. Apprenticeships are now offered in four vocations: assembly mechatronics specialist, automotive mechatronics specialist, machinery and foundry operator and control system electrician. The company currently employs about 350 apprentices in all years of the course.

The company's commitment to the advanced training of its present and future employees is even more extensive and continues onto the university subjects. Strategic cooperation arrangements with Poznań University of Technology and Poznań University of Economics ensure a supply of qualified junior staff in the course of Dual studies faculties and apprenticeships.

Since 2014, Volkswagen Poznań has had its own Technical Development Department, which is responsible for designing the cargo space of commercial vehicles.

Environment

As environmental protection and sustainability are key elements in the strategy of Volkswagen Poznań, all the facilities of Volkswagen Poznań feature advanced production technology as well as solutions and programs for the improvement of environmental protection. Volkswagen Poznań has introduced an integrated environmental and energy management system in accordance with ISO standards 14001 and 50001 – the certificates confirm that the plants meet all the requirements of Polish and EU environmental law.

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a top priority for Volkswagen Poznań. In December 2014, the Management Board, the directors of the plants and the chairman of the Solidarność trade union adopted a sustainable development strategy. This document was created after one year of intensive work and a large number of consultation meetings with stakeholders. Together with a number of indicators, the strategy now lays the foundation for responsible management within the company. It consists of three strategy areas: people, economics and the environment. One of the values of the corporate culture and a component of the CSR strategy is dialogue and engagement. Dialogue with 11,000 employees at four different locations represents a considerable challenge. The first step in dialogue is to provide information for the employees. For this purpose, a number of internal communication tools have been created to keep employees informed. However, information is not everything. At Volkswagen Poznań, employees' opinions are also respected. This approach includes CIP workshops during which employees can optimize their workplaces themselves. Employees can also ask the management questions via tools such as "If you don't know, just ask!" and Group Connect chats or directly at employee meetings attended by the entire workforce.

As a commercial vehicle manufacturer, Volkswagen Poznan is well aware of the environmental and social impact of its plants. In a process of dialogue with local residents, the company searches for solutions to compensate for this impact.

Priorities of social engagement

Volkswagen Poznan is committed to being a good corporate neighbor. A good relationship with local residents near the company's plants is a key element in the company's long-term strategy. The company is committed to being an active participant in the life of local communities and working together with local residents to ensure a better future and development possibilities. VW Poznan supports projects that are important for Greater Poland and are in line with the philosophy of VW Poznan. Goals which have been given priority include technical education, integration in the local community, environmental protection, aid for children and young people, road safety and support for modern communications solutions in cities. Further information on these priorities is available at  www.volkswagen-poznan.pl.

 

Poznań/Swarzędz plant

Area: 410,000  m² (Poznań plant), 292,000 m² (Swarzędz plant)

Production: 197,805 vehicles (2017)

Models: Volkswagen Caddy, Caddy Maxi, Transporter

Employees: About 6,700  (January 2018)

The commercial vehicle models Caddy and Transporter have been produced at the Poznań and Swarzędz  plants since 2003. Volkswagen Poznań has been present on the Polish market for almost 25 years.

The company was founded in 1993 as a joint venture between Volkswagen AG and the Tarpan factory of Poznań. In 1996, Volkswagen Poznań became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and was integrated into the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand one year later. Thanks to the investments made, the capacity of the plants rose from 200 vehicles per day in 2003 to 720 vehicles per day in 2015.

The production facilities of Volkswagen Poznań consist of three units. The body shop, the paint shop and the assembly unit are located in the Antoninek district of Poznań. Body modules and cockpits are produced at Swarzędz near Poznań, where the logistics centre and the suppliers' park are also located. The special vehicles unit known as Customized Solution situated in Swarzędz and Września provide customer-oriented products with the yearly production of 60,216 units (2017).
 

Wrzesnia plant

Area: 2,200,000 m²

Production: 40,204  vehicles (2017)

Models: Volkswagen Crafter

Employees: 2,600  (January 2017)

The new-generation Volkswagen Crafter has been produced at the new Volkswagen plant in Wrzesnia since 2016. Following the VW Poznań plant in Poznań-Antoninek, this is the second production facility of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand in Poland. The official inauguration of the plant took place on October 24, 2016. The plant has received a gold certificate from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (the German Association of Sustainable Building).

The new plant in Wrzesnia is located about 50 kilometers to the east of Poznań and benefits from the vicinity of the plant in Poznań-Antoninek in terms of production and logistics support, access to suppliers and the experience of the VW Poznań team. The Crafter plant has an area of 220 hectares, corresponding to about 300 soccer pitches. When it is operating to full capacity, the Wrzesnia plant will employ more than 3,000 people. The relocation of suppliers from Poland and other countries will create a large number of additional jobs in the region.

Production

The new plant has a design annual production capacity of 100,000 units. At the plant site, a modern paint shop, body production and vehicle assembly units and a supplier park with logistics facilities will be constructed.

The site of the new plant is located in Białężyce, which forms part of the municipality of Wrzesnia in the region of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland). The municipality has about 44,500 inhabitants, of whom about 30,000 live in the city of Wrzesnia itself. Wrzesnia is located about 300 kilometers from both Warsaw and Berlin.
 

Foundry

Area: 56.047 m²

Production: 4.5 million units (2017)

Products: Cylinder heads, steering system housings, front axle carriers, B9 castings, cylindernhead covers, mechatronics components, and MQ 250 clutch and transmission housings

Employees: over 1,100  (January 2018)

In the 21^st century, the automotive industry poses increasingly difficult challenges for component manufacturers. In view of environmental concerns, the fuel consumption of vehicles needs to be minimized. For this reason, manufacturers are continuously striving to reduce vehicle weights. In line with this trend, the share of light alloys in engines, transmissions and car bodies is being successively increased. These developments force foundries to work steadily on the development of casting processes and to introduce innovative mould designs, inorganic core making and innovative cooling processes. The second force behind market developments is the customer. Customers are posing increasingly severe demands, resulting in a shortening of product life cycles (or more rapid ageing of products). In order to remain competitive, component manufacturers need to make production more flexible and to adapt more rapidly to changed conditions.

History

Over its 20-year history, the Volkswagen foundry at Poznań, which started as a small business with a few employees, has become a major European permanent mould foundry and supplier of steering system housings. The foundry started operations as an independent plant in 1996 and was relocated to a site leased from Hipolit-Cegielski soon afterwards. Initially, the foundry was equipped with one furnace and three permanent mould casters provided by the Volkswagen foundry in Hanover. At that time, the product range mainly included intake manifolds, cylinder heads and a few die castings. In 2007, the first of six turntables was installed and mass production of die castings began. Tandem die-casting machines were introduced at the foundry in 2011.

The foundry today

Nowadays, the foundry site is owned by Volkswagen Poznań. There are two modern production buildings with a total area of 35,241 m² and 22 departments with a total workforce of more than 1,000 people. The foundry has a production capacity of 250 tonnes, or 11 truckloads of castings per day. Complex castings meeting the most stringent quality and environmental requirements are produced using advanced technologies. The main products are steering system housings, produced by die-casting, and cylinder heads, produced using permanent moulds. Advanced technologies include core weight compensation and tandem casting. It is now possible to produce complex, thin-walled components which could not have been cast 10 years ago by gravity or die casting.

Quality and environmental protection

Since the Volkswagen Poznań foundry was established, it has been committed to compliance with the most stringent quality and environmental protection requirements. The foundry was already certified to DIN ISO 9002 and VDA 6.1 in May 1999. The success of the environmental management system implemented at a later date was confirmed in 2002 by certification to ISO 14 001. In 2007, the quality management system was certified in accordance with standard ISO/TS 16949:2002 concerning quality management systems for the production of automobile components. The objective of the Volkswagen Poznań foundry is to be a competent development partner for new parts and to assume a leading position among the component plants of the VW Group. In order to reach this position, the foundry continually adapts products to the requirements of the automotive industry and introduces considerable innovations in the casting process. Products of the Poznań foundry are now installed on one-third of the vehicles produced by the Volkswagen Group.

Direct customers of the foundry: VW  Braunschwieg, VW Salzgitter, VW Chemnitz,
VW Hannover, VW Kassel, VW Polkowice, Audi Györ, Audi Ingolstadt, Audi Neckarsulm Skoda, Bosch Automotive.