Plant location: Salzgitter, Lower Saxony
Total surface: 2.800.000 m²
Engine production(combustion engines): 1,32 Mio. engines (2019)
Products: Engines and engine components
Types of components: engine parts, core products for e-propulsion engines
Staff: approx. 7.000 (2020)
Plant
Volkswagen Plant Salzgitter covers approximately 2.8 million square meters. More than 730 suppliers provide material and parts for the respective engine- and component assemblies at the plant, employing on average 200 trucks and 15 railway cars as daily cargo traffic volume.
Production
Salzgitter Plant belongs to the Volkswagen division „Components“ and manufactures an extremely diversified mix of up to 5.000 spark ignited & diesel engines per day: The range extends from 3 to 16 cylinders. Since plant foundation in 1970, a total of 61 million engines was built. The engines find use in over 40 car types made by Volkswagen Group, ranging from Golf via Tiguan, Skoda Kodiaq, Volkswagen T6 to the iconic Bugatti Chiron. Moreover, Salzgitter produces millions of engine components per year. Examples are the cylinder shut down system “ACT” (= Active Cylinder Technology) or the integrated valve actuation module (ivM), but also oil- und water pumps.
In addition, Salzgitter is the origin of Volkswagen’s most fundamental E-Drive-Components, namely rotor and stator for the engines of ID.3 and ID.4. In our “Center of Excellence”, development and pilot-manufacturing of battery cells and –modules takesplace. Large scale manufacture of lithium-ion battery cells is scheduled for take off in 2024. For that purpose, Volkswagen joins forces with Swedish battery expert company Northvolt and integrates the battery cell plant “Northvolt 2” into Volkswagen Salzgitter Factory.
Plant Management
The current general manager of Salzgitter Plant is Andreas Salewsky. Holding a Master of Engineering in the field of machinery conception, he joined Volkswagen in 1999. After four years in the production planning department at Salzgitter, he moved into the serial planning department at Motor Polska. Back in Salzgitter by 2006, he went through various managerial responsibilities, ultimately becoming manufacturing manager at Salzgitter, which is the engine lead plant of Volkswagen Group Components. In May 2019, Andreas Salewsky was promoted into the role of General Management at Salzgitter Plant.
Environmental Responsibility
By means of the “Thing Blue. Factory.”-concept, Volkswagen brand has committed itself to clear goals regarding ecologically sustainable setup of its factories. In 2019 alone, Salzgitter plant has saved 5.700 tons of CO2 in comparison to 2018. On top of that, a recycling plant for industrial waste water recycles 60.000 cubic meters of water per year.
Plant History
The plant opened in 1970 to be the production site of the Volkswagen automobile type K70. Engine assembly started simultaneously. From 1975 onwards, however, the plant focused solely on the manufacture of engines and engine components which resulted in 61 million engines built until 2020. The plant currently performs a transition towards E-mobility. From 2024 onwards, the battery cell factory “Northvolt 2” shall enter production at this site.
