Volkswagen’s Uitenhage factory has been rated the top manufacturing plant in the German brand’s global production network, the first time it has managed to do so in its 64-year history.
For 2015, Volkswagen Group South Africa’s plant achieved the highest index score (a whopping 113,2%) of the 13 VW plants dotted around the globe.
The 13 global production plants were each rated on a set of performance indicators, including production volumes, production quality, costs per unit, units produced per employee, health and safety incidents, and the factory’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
VW SA says it came out on top thanks largely to the 120 000 Polo and Polo Vivo models that were produced in 2015 at “much better than budgeted cost levels”. More than 66 000 Polo units were exported to predominantly right-hand drive markets, while 113 000 engines were also produced, with 81 000 of those exported.
Another key contributing factor to its success, according to the local arm of the Wolfsburg-based automaker, is the fact that the Uitenhage factory managed to exceed various energy consumption, water usage, emissions and wastage targets.
In August 2015, VW SA announced plans of an investment of more than R4,5-billion for new models to be produced in Uitenhage by 2017.
