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10/14/20
Wolfsburg
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Start of the Variant:
Wolfsburg plant builds the complete Golf family

Advance sales of the new Golf Variant have recently begun – the car is being built at the Wolfsburg plant. The complete Golf family is now rolling off the production line at Volkswagen’s headquarters. Some employees see an old friend again.

One of the employees who still knows the car inside out is Jörn Manske. He was already on board when the Golf Variant was last manufactured in Wolfsburg – that was up until 2006. At that time, Manske was already working in the paint shop, became the team spokesman and began training to become a master craftsman.

He accompanied the ramp-up of the new Golf Variant as a shift supervisor. “Compared to that time, I have witnessed radical further developments in our paint shop. Our processes are much more stable, the quality is consistently high, energy efficiency and ergonomics have been significantly improved,” reports Manske.

Story: "Start of the Variant: Wolfsburg plant builds the complete Golf family"
For Jörn Manske from the paint shop, the start of production of the new Golf Variant means a reunion with the compact model.
Story: "Start of the Variant: Wolfsburg plant builds the complete Golf family"
Katja Utermöhlen, on the current Golf line, is just getting to know the press shop.

New at Volkswagen is Katja Utermöhlen – the position as assistant to the press shop manager is her first in the company. She studied business administration and logistics in Emden and Münster, then joined Volkswagen via the international trainee Start-up-Cross program. “I’m the first in my family to work at Volkswagen, but everyone in my family drives a Volkswagen. The Golf was the car I learnt to drive in, and I think the car is great,” says Utermöhlen.

The press shop is a good place for them to start in the company. “Everything here is very familiar, the working atmosphere is just right. I think it’s good that we are now building the entire Golf family in Wolfsburg. After all, I still have many years ahead of me,” says Utermöhlen.

Lars Brandt has been working for Volkswagen since 1992. The trained energy system electronics engineer used to program systems and robots. Since 2013 he has been part of the network of electrical specialists, which is divided into the “vehicle” and “systems” areas.

As an electrician in the Golf production Brandt is responsible for handling electric vehicles including hybrids. As a high-voltage expert, he evaluates activities on the electric vehicles. He wrote the protocol instructions for the so-called release of the cars in the car production, which are now also being adopted in China.

High voltage expert Lars Brandt. In 2018 he supported the start of the e-Golf in Foshan, China.

Rebecca Schrader is a trained process mechanic for plastics and rubber technology and a quality inspector in the plastics technology department in Hall 53a, where the bumpers for the Golf and its various derivatives are manufactured using injection molding. Her job is to check and ensure the quality of the bumpers. “The new Golf Variant is good for the diversity at the site. We have even built a new hall for the vehicle,” she says.

Before she became a quality inspector, she worked in the production of bumpers. So, she knows what she is talking about. It is important to her that only top-quality parts leave the area, because: “We give the car its face.”

Story: "Start of the Variant: Wolfsburg plant builds the complete Golf family"
Michael Fromme has been a professional trainer for 18 years.

Anyone who has trained in the paint department in Wolfsburg’s Golf production plant has not been able to get past Michael Fromme in the last 18 years. He is a vocational trainer and supervises the trainees in basic training, among other things. Over the course of time, he has trained 180 junior employees and he still has contact to many of them.

He has a lot to tell, especially through his role as a supervisor of the GTI, which are presented annually at the Wörthersee. The Wörthersee project was launched in 2008 by the Volkswagen Academy: Since then, trainees in various professions have been given the opportunity every year to create their dream car. Michael has been involved from the very beginning and supervises the paint team.

Back to Jörn Manske, the experienced shift supervisor. He reports that not only the work processes have changed since the Golf Variant was last built in Wolfsburg. Manske: “The colors have also changed over time. Back then, we saw a lot of red and blue, but today we tend to see metallic paintwork and modern gray tones. But also, a lot of white. I have always driven a Golf fondly. Also, my first car was a Golf 1 GTI, built in 1977.”

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