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.”

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