VW is launching a qualification offensive for electromobility at its main plant in Wolfsburg. By 2025, a total of 22,000 production employees are to be qualified for e-mobility.
Production of an electric model on the MEB platform will start in Wolfsburg in autumn 2023 with the ID.3. Around 1,200 employees are therefore to be trained for its production by the summer. The ID.3 will start in Wolfsburg with a partial production for which components will be supplied from the actual ID.3 main plant in Zwickau. Within a year, not only the number of units is to be increased, but also full production is to be introduced.
Once production of the ID.3 has ramped up, an additional all-electric MEB model in the SUV segment will increase e-utilisation in Wolfsburg, as VW announced in December – including a €460 million investment in the main plant. It recently leaked out that this model will be roughly the size of today’s Tiguan from 2026 onwards and will be based on the Group’s enhanced MEB+ modular system. Later, the electric flagship Trinity will be built in Wolfsburg – whether in the main plant itself or, as planned in the meantime, in a new electric car plant in the Warmenau district is still being clarified internally.
Volkswagen claims that it wants to achieve this further training not only through technical training but also through emotions, according to the press release: A so-called “eMotionRoom” has been opened at the Wolfsburg plant, which is part of the one-day training programme “eMotionDay”. This is a kind of Escape Room in which employees are to be introduced to the topic in a playful way in small groups. In teams of four, the employees have to solve various tasks in each room in order to open the exit – two trainers are present via video link.
The eMotionRoom in Wolfsburg was designed internally by the Volkswagen Group Academy and the plant organisation. It has three elaborately designed rooms in which various puzzles and tasks have to be solved in 20 minutes each. It starts with a journey back to the 19th century (invention of the first electric motor), and the second room leads through the history of the Wolfsburg site to the present (production of internal combustion engines), according to the press release. Finally, there is a look into the digital future of driving.
“Volkswagen is constantly working on innovative training and development concepts as we move towards becoming a provider of sustainable and software-oriented mobility. These concepts are our key to a successful transformation. The more digital our world becomes, the more crucial our team’s skills become for our competitiveness,” says Group Human Resources Director Gunnar Kilian at the opening of the eMotionRoom. The Escape Room concept has already been tested at the existing MEB sites in Zwickau and Emden, now the main plant in Wolfsburg will follow.
Deputy Chairman of the General Works Council Gerardo Scarpino says: “The eMotionRoom principle already met with very positive feedback from our employees in Zwickau. The idea proved extremely popular – that is why we have included it for Wolfsburg, too. The transition to e-mobility can only happen together with our colleagues. Getting them on board, inspiring and training them is absolutely crucial to our collective success. That is because we can only master the transformation together – and the eMotionRoom is a key part of the puzzle.”
Keyword: VW launches training initiative in Wolfsburg