For the third time in a row, Volkswagen Group Components has honored its best plants with the “Speed+ Award”. The Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Components Thomas Schmall presented the coveted awards of the international and cross-brand efficiency competition for the first time as part of an online live event.
The nominated plants from all over the world were switched on and thousands of employees watched the announcement of the winners via webcast. For the first time, the component factories of the brands Audi, SEAT and ŠKODA also took part in the competition. The component plant in Tianjin, China, was the winner of this year’s three gold awards.
Hard competition in eight categories
This year, two new evaluations were added to the categories of plant efficiency, assembly efficiency, shop floor management, process excellence, tool costs and networking with lead time and hour per unit (HPU). In the new “throughput time” category, the focus is on process orientation and cross-departmental thinking along the value stream. HPU is the key figure for direct and indirect net personnel deployment down to line level. For the first time, the special category “networking” was decided by the employees via online voting. There was a choice of three previously nominated works.
Thomas Schmall, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Components, says: “In the third year of our SPEED+ Award, we not only further tightened the competition with two additional categories, but also increased the number of participating plants worldwide. The integration of further group brands brought an additional sporty expansion. However, the focus of the award is still on creating standards so that we can learn from the best in our company. Our entire company will only benefit if we share these best examples and make them usable.”
Dr. Stefan Sommer, Group Member for Component and Procurement, says: “The SPEED+ Award makes the operational performance of our plants transparent and at the same time promotes competition among the participating locations. At the same time, it is also about external competitiveness and thus future viability. This efficiency competition is a benchmark and serves as a role model for the whole group. ”
High participation
The Volkswagen Group Components’ Speed + Award continued to gain in importance in the third year. The number of participants was increased and the internationality expanded again. With Audi, SEAT and ŠKODA, three new Volkswagen Group brands and their component factories also took part in the efficiency competition. Over 10,000 employees (previous year: 8,000) from 23 (19) plants in 11 (7) countries competed to measure themselves in a total of eight award categories – and to learn from each other.
The winners of the SPEED+ Award from Volkswagen Group Components:
Plant efficiency
1. Tianjin plant, China
2. Braunschweig plant, Germany
3. Dalian plant, China
Assembly efficiency
1. Puebla plant, Mexico
2. Braunschweig plant, Germany
3. São Carlos plant, Brazil
Shop floor management
1. Braunschweig plant, Germany
2. Kassel plant, Germany
3. SITECH Polkowice plant, Poland
Process excellence
1. SITECH Wolfsburg plant, Germany
2. Poznań foundry plant, Poland
3. Kassel plant, Germany
Tooling costs
1. Tianjin plant, China
2. Dalian plant, China
3. Braunschweig plant, Germany
Lead time
1. Tianjin plant, China
2. SITECH Polkowice plant, Poland
3. SITECH Wolfsburg plant, Germany
HPU
1. SITECH Polkowice plant, Poland
2. Motor Polska Polkowice plant, Poland
3. Poznań foundry plant, Poland
Networking
Kassel plant, Germany
