Before they leave the factory, every Passat and Arteon built in Emden is subjected to an important test: the final quality assurance check. We visited the coast and looked over the experts shoulders’:
Hall 7, ZP8. At the Emden plant, this abbreviation stands for the area in which each vehicle is checked once more before it receives the ninth and final stamp on the so-called ‘running card’. At the same time, an electronic signal is sent to the main plant in Wolfsburg: “Please print the vehicle registration document!”
At peak times this is up to 1,260 times a day. In a two-shift operation, Arteon and Passat models roll off the same assembly line.
The latter recently celebrated its big anniversary at the coastal location: on March 14, 2019, the world's 30 millionth Passat was produced worldwide. This makes the mid-range bestseller the third Volkswagen model, after the Beetle and Golf, to achieve this magical number.
But before a vehicle is sent to a customer by ship, train or truck, it has to pass men like Gerhard Folkerts in Emden.
The 46-year-old has been with the company for 30 years and is shift manager in QS assembly. QS stands for quality assurance and is one of the many abbreviations that are as normal for the employees here as the first names of the colleagues and the in-house model series names.
Each Arteon passes through eleven final ‘cycles’ in the relentless neon light of ZP8. Previously, it had already been in Hall 16 to inspect the paint surface, in the outdoor area for final test-drives and on the upper floor of Hall 7 for the ‘major inspection’ in the technical testing area, called ZP8a. One floor below, the vehicles now glide, at one-meter intervals, past nine employees, who are responsible for the flawless condition of the new vehicles regardless of early or late shifts. These are the six most important tasks:
Watertightness test (WD): “First comes the monsoon rain, then we come," jokes Gerhard Folkerts. Before the final inspection on the treadmill, every car has to go through the company's own car wash. There a heavy tropical rain is simulated. Freshly dried, the car is then handed over to Folkert's team. "First we check whether the car really is watertight," says Folkerts.
This means: doors, hood and trunk are opened, visual inspection and moisture checks take place with a measuring probe that can also detect hidden areas with its long probe. “If we find water somewhere that does not belong there after a vehicle wash, it is noted on the electronic report card. If something is noticed in several cars, there is a special test for the models concerned."
Behind this is a type of mini-computer that is docked in the vehicle and electronically checks the control units, control loops and software. “If a car’s software is not up to date, it will be noticed here at the latest,” says Folkerts.
Matching numbers: Does the chassis number match throughout all points in the car?
Is the correct running card clamped to the windshield wipers? “If this is not the case, the car will not be released,” explains Folkerts. Logical consequence: “Re-checking and reinserting the vehicle in the ZP8 release process.”
If the FIS sets a green checkmark behind each individual mandatory screw connection, the electronic acceptance is completed. The vehicle now rolls to the last station in Hall 7.
Headlamp setting: But about 20 meters behind ZP8 the so-called “headlight station”, the last mechanical step of the staggered final inspection, is still waiting.
“Basic lights, xenon headlamps with and without light bending technology, LED matrix lights, front camera – at three stations in the test and finish area, the correct illumination of the road and the functioning of certain assistance systems is ensured partly by hand, partly automatically,” says Reiner Röpke.
As a master in the finishing process, he is responsible for the final check of the lighting system and camera-controlled assistance systems at ZP9. If this last hurdle is also passed with flying colors, the vehicle receives the final stamp on the accompanying card at the automatic shuttered exit gate to the loading car park. Next stop, the customer!
