"We build it an hour quicker!"

"The new Golf is much more complex than its predecessor. Nevertheless, the team in Wolfsburg was able to reduce the average production time per vehicle by around one hour", says Andreas Tostmann, Member of the Board of Management at Volkswagen and responsible for production.

Volkswagen plant Wolfsburg, Golf 8 Production

Perfection at the Wolfsburg plant: an employee assembles the brand logo on the new Golf.

Production of the new Golf in Wolfsburg began already in summer. Currently it is on the socalled "ramp-up phase". The Golf 8 will be presented to the public this week. The first vehicles will be delivered to German and Austrian dealerships at the beginning of December. The eighth generation of Volkswagen’s successful model sets new standards – also in production.

Since 1974, when the first generation was introduced, over 35 million Golf models in various versions have been produced worldwide. 26 million of them at the Wolfsburg plant. In order to make production even more efficient, numerous production steps, in hundreds of workshops, were analyzed in detail.

2,300 robots

The Golf 8 consists of over 2,700 individual parts and components. In the fully connected vehicle, a total of 962 wiring systems with 1,340 meters of cable are installed. That is almost 100 meters more cable and 31 more wiring systems than in the Golf 7. Until it leaves the factory, from the delivery of the steel sheets to the plant, the Golf covers 69 kilometers on production lines . Volkswagen uses a total of around 2,300 robots for the production of the Golf 8. About 16 percent of them were newly integrated in the production area or replaced old robots.

With the start of the new Golf, Volkswagen is bundling Golf production at the Wolfsburg plant, bringing it back from Zwickau, Germany and Puebla, Mexico. Andreas Tostmann adds: “The Golf is the largest volume project we have in Wolfsburg.” At the brand’s main plant, 8,400 employees work exclusively on and for the Golf.

Andreas Tostmann, responsible for production: "“With the new Golf, the team in Wolfsburg really showed off all their skills."

An employee checks the surface on the right side of the car.

No fewer than 72 suppliers come from Lower Saxony, underlining the importance of the bestseller for Northern Germany. A greater standardization of equipment and processes resulted in a reduced investment of more than half, required for a successful start-up, compared with the predecessor. The socalled "Modular Transverse Toolkit" (short: MQB, in German) is another reason for the low investment requirements: the Golf 8 actually belongs to the second generation of this product concept.

The total investment for the new Golf amounts to a mid-three-digit million euro amount. This enables the Wolfsburg plant to a maximum capacity of 450,000 vehicles of the Golf family per year.

The new Golf, digitalised and connected: the innovision cockpit.

Like its predecessor, the Golf 8 is based on the modular transverse kit (MQB). As a result, 80 percent of the existing systems can continue to be used in body construction due to the current platform strategy. A new system was installed for the side sections with the striking tornado lines. Not only is it much more flexible, it is also 40 percent more productive than that of the Golf 7.

Digitalization facilitates efficiency

The fully connected Golf joins the market with 95 new digital functions. Not only will the vehicle be more digital than its predecessors, but its production processes will be as well. In body construction, a new fully automated generation of driverless transport systems ensures faster material supply with sheet metal from the press shop. These 23 transport robots are an essential prerequisite for efficient factory processes: they increase productivity in body shop logistics by seven percent.

By redesigning the so-called material supermarkets into narrower lanes, it has been possible to reduce staff distances and save 15 percent space. A major advantage of the new system is that 60 percent fewer forklifts are needed. From 2020, the materials from the supermarkets will mainly be assembled using driverless transportation systems.

For the first time, the vehicle's commissioning, for example the uploading of all data, is carried out fully automatically. It happens via fast WLAN connection during the running process on the line. In the past, employees used to upload the data at fixed stations. With the new method, Volkswagen can keep the production time constant as the volume of data increases. “With the Golf 8, the team in Wolfsburg showed all their skills. Overall, the production processes have become more efficient,” says Andreas Tostmann, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Production: “This is a strong achievement.”