Volkswagen BR São José dos Pinhais

Plant

Inaugurated on January 18, 1999, São José dos Pinhais (PR) plant is one of the most modern of the Volkswagen Group in the world. Located in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, the factory has a total area of 1.3 million m², of which 305 thousand m² are of built area.

Management

Since October 2019 Leandro Lemos de Oliveira is the Plant Manager of the São José dos Pinhais unit, where he had been manager of Body Shop in 2014. Leandro started his career at VW, in 2000, as a point man at the Taubaté plant. In addition to his time in Paraná, he was also a process analyst and Body Shop supervisor at the Anchieta plant, where since 2017 he held the position of executive manager of the Manufacture.

Production

One of the most modern of the Volkswagen Group in the world, the factory employs 2600 people and produces the Volkswagen T-Cross and Fox models, in addition to the Audi A3Sedan for the domestic and foreign markets. About 109,944 vehicles left the assembly lines in 2019. Current daily production is around 413 vehicles.

Components, Eixos

Since February 2015 the unit started the production of suspension modules and Frond End of the Fox, Saveiroand Suranto supply three Volkswagen units -São José dos Pinhais (PR), São Bernardo do Campo (SP) and Pacheco, in Argentina. Since inauguration, around 2.3 million modules and spare parts have been produced. In 2018 the unit also incorporated the production of parts for the T-Cross, Fox and Golf aftermarket. Altogether, there are 180 models of parts that undergo an automated KTL painting process, in addition to the manual application of PVC on vehicle doors and covers.

Environment

A factory can use advanced technology through out the production process, suchas laser welding and water-based paint in carpainting, prohibiting the emission of solvents, and using an advanced effluent treatment process, which addresses requirements technical and industrial. Paraná unit is also part of the global concept "ThinkBlue. Factory.", Which sets a target for Volkswagen factories worldwide, in 35.5% of its environmental indicator sofwater and energy consumption, a generation of waste, such as CO₂ and solvents by 2025, compared to 2010.

In offices and production areas, one of the highlights is the use of natural lighting on a largescale, through the use of transparent polycarbonate tiles. In addition, a factory also performs the replacement of lamps with superior technology, with less power, but provides the same lighting, or reduces energy consumption. In some line soft he Frame and the Final Assembly, dimmable luminaires were installed, which can have their light intensity adjusted according to the need, privileging or using natural light.

Another example of a Volkswagen factory in São José dos Pinhais uses nature to its advantage, it is an occurrence of a meteorological station installed in the Paint Shop building, to monitor as climate statistics such as the external temperature, relative to the area and volume of rain. With the data, the unit is able to rationalize the use of energy and natural gas to control the precise form of the amount of cold or hot water for air conditioning in automotive paint booths. The paint booths used with controlled temperature and humidity and cannot be interfered with changes.

Certified by ISO 14001, a global standard that attests to the good environmental management of organizations, the unit has an advanced process for treating effluents, which treats conventional and industrial sewage. One of the most recent initiatives implemented at the Paraná unit is the co-processing of sludge, generated from the treatment of sanitary and industrial sewage at the factory. The waste, which was previously sent to an industrial landfill, is now destined for cement factories, where the sludge is used as fuel to feed the kilns or is incorporated into the mass that gives rise to the cement. The initiative prevented the factory from disposing of waste to landfills. The factory also has an environmental monitoring system that controls air and water quality.

São José dos Pinhais unit is also a pioneer in there use of water used in tests carried out by firefighters. The procedure is carried out weekly and is mandatory by law. The water, used in the tests of the operation of the fire network pumps, is reused to cool equipment in the productive areas, such as welding and laser welding pliers, in Body Shop, and compressors, in the Utilities sector. Since2012, the project has saved more than200 thousand liters of water per week. The initiative was recognized by the company's headquarters in Germany and received the Award “ThinkBlue. Factory.”

History

Inaugurated on January 18, 1999, São José dos Pinhais plant is one of the most modern of the Volkswagen Group in the world. The unit was built with a pioneering layout: Body Shop, Paint Shop and Final Assembly areas converge on the Communication Center, a triangular building where the administrative offices, winter gardens, bank branch and cafeterias are concentrated. The objective is to integrate all areas and the information flow, favoring continuous quality improvement. The idea is that all areas work interacting with each other. Each team can discuss and resolve issues related to the production process immediately. The Communication Center also houses laboratories and measurement rooms. The unit has an advanced logistics system, with 8 suppliers installed within the land, forming the Curitiba Industrial Park (PIC).

Since its inauguration, the industrial complex has produced more than 2.7 million vehicles for the domestic and foreign markets. In 2018, the unit received an investment of R $ 2 billion for the development and production of the T-Cross SUV, the first SUV produced by Volkswagen in Brazil.

The amount included the expansion of the factory, modernization of manufacturing, certification tests and product validation, local development of parts and qualification of personnel, in addition to complete modernization in all areas with a focus on the application of innovations in Industry 4.0, using the maximum technologies available by the Volkswagen Group, with process innovations with virtual simulations.

In its successful trajectory, the factory has received important recognitions such as ISO 9001 Quality, Environmental 14,001 and Energy 50,001 Certifications.

Facts:

1999: Inauguration 2003: Launch of Fox

2005: Launch of CrossFox

2011: 500 thousand Golf and SpaceFox production 2012: Fox BlueMotion and 2 million vehicles produced

2013: Announcement of investment of R $ 520 million for the production of Novo Golf 2015: Production of the Audi A3 Sedan

2016: Production of the New Golf and Audi Q3

2017: 1 million modules and Front End produced and produced by Fox Connect and Fox Xtreme

2018: Announcement of investment of R $ 2 billion for the development and production of the T-Corss, VW's first SUV in Brazil

2019: Launch of the T-Cross and the milestone of 2.7 million vehicles produced.

Communications Volkswagen BR
Fernando Campoi
Tel. +55 11 4347 5055
fernando.campoi@volkswagen.com.br