Curious to see how VW managed to pull of such a daunting project, Leftlane decided to swing by the Chattanooga plant for a rare behind-the-scenes look.
Like all employees of the Chattanooga plant, our journey started in VW's on-site Academy. Covering 163,000 square feet near the plant's main entrance, the Academy is a state-of-the-art training facility designed to get new hires ready for life on the plant floor. Although the VW Academy would probably be a waste of resources in a place like Detroit where most factory workers are familiar with the practice of building cars, it was an absolute necessity in Chattanooga - VW estimates that 90 percent of the factory's workforce is completely new to the auto industry.
New hires are required to complete a six-week training course at the Academy before they can move to the factory floor. New "students" begin their course work with simple games like building toy trucks before moving onto more difficult tasks that will be required on the job. The Academy features replicas of just about every tool and machine that can be found on the factory floor - including a fully-functioning production line - ensuring line workers are prepared for any task they might encounter.
In addition to new employee training, the Academy is also home to a training program jointly run with Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga State Community College. Intended to cultivate the next-generation of VW employees, the program consists of a three-year apprenticeship followed by a guaranteed job offer from VW. To sweeten the deal, VW foots the bill for tuition and books for participating students and also offers a base pay of $14 per hour for any work done in the plant.
The state of Tennessee kicks in $2 million per year to help fund the operations of the training Academy.
"The plant of short distances"
As for the plant itself, VW created a relatively compact facility so that all key functions - from the body shop to the paint shop to the administrative offices - are within a short walk of each other. In fact, VW's home office has given the Chattanooga plant the title of "The plant of short distances."
Although the small footprint is convenient for employees of the Chattanooga plant, VW actually designed the plant's close-knit floorplan for quality assurance reasons - if any one department notices a reoccurring flaw, it can easily get in touch with the appropriate shop.
And that focus on quality is reflected throughout the entire build process. Vehicles are continually examined during production and 100 percent of the vehicles built in Chattanooga are put through a final quality check that includes a water test, road test and acceptance test.
In addition to those quality checks, VW also pulls two vehicles per day at random to conduct a thorough quality inspection.
The processes in place in Chattanooga appear to be working, as warranty claims for the Passat, currently the only vehicle built at the plant, are down 40 percent from its predecessor.
Room to grow
The Chattanooga plant will likely playing a growing role in VW's quest to sell 800,000 vehicles in the United Sates by 2018, but the German automaker is taking a slow and steady approach in Tennessee - at least for now.
After a slow ramp-up, the Chattanooga plant is on pace to build 150,000 Passats this year. If all goes as planned, that figure will grow to 180,000 units in 2013.
However, VW still has plenty of room to grow in Chattanooga. Although Passat capacity tops out at about 180,000 units, the factory has enough extra floor space to boost total capacity to 220,000 units per year. And if more room beyond that is need, VW could build a carbon copy of the existing plant on the 1,400 acre complex, giving the automaker a theoretical capacity of 440,000 vehicles per year.
It would take VW about two years to build a second plant, but the German automaker has yet to green light such a project. However, recent reports have indicated VW will eventually build a second plant to produce a new crossover.
So far this year VW's U.S. Sales have increased 30 percent to 323,853 units, with a large chunk of that growth attributed to the Chattanooga plant.
Words and photos by Drew Johnson.
