Volkswagen South Africa has invested R6.1 billion in people, machinery and logistics in order to be able to produce a new Polo or Polo Vivo on the same line every one hour, 57 seconds. An integrated logistics system supports VW SA’s first “One-line” production line, which is used to build both models in any configuration consecutively or in any order, according to VWSA chairman and managing director, Thomas Schaefer. During the phase-out of the previous Polo model there were four different models being produced on the same line. An RFID chip is attached early on in the production process, which allows VW to track the progress of every vehicle throughout the production and delivery process. The chip contains all the information about the colour, configuration, destination, build date and other relevant information. RFID chips simplify tracking because scanning is done by wireless rather than having to be read physically. The chip is also used to identify the vehicle throughout its life. Production will ramp up to 160 000 vehicles a year using a three-shift system by 2019. In 2018 VW SA plans to build 133 000 vehicles, 83 000 of which will be exported to both left and righthand drive markets. Local content averages around 60% Schaefer told FTW at the official launch of the two new vehicles in Uitenhage last week that components were being delivered to the line through a combination of justin-sequence, just-intime and standard warehousing practices. The choice is dictated by a combination of factors, the first being price. Just-in-sequence is the most costly from a logistics perspective, and is used for high-value components or those which are specific to a particular car. Every car on the line can have a different interior colour and componentry specification. Rather than have the operator having to make the selection from bins they are supplied as the vehicle arrives at the fitment station. Bulk items, such as tyres and rims, are delivered just in time in order to save space. Internally manufactured components, such as body parts, are coordinated through a logistics “pearl chain model”. Doors, for example, are fitted and painted together with the rest of the body and then separated from the body to have the windows and trim fitted while the body interior is being fitted out. The two meet again later down the line, with the system being designed so that the two processes happen in tandem. With pearl chain logistics there is no need to track the doors.
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Our investment allows us to produce a new Polo or Polo Vivo on the same line every one hour, 57 seconds. – Thomas Schaefer
