Volkswagen India has commenced third shift at Pune plant. The company which rolled out its first car from the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in March 2009. In 2015, 123,456 cars were produced in a two-shift system which allows a maximum of 130,000 cars. Rising demand from export market and foreseeing the high volumes that the all-new Ameo will drive, Volkswagen India decided to shift its operations in top gear by adding an extra shift at its plant.
Commenting on successfully integrating third shift at the Volkswagen Pune Plant, Dr. Andreas Lauermann, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Private Limited, said “In 2016, we are expecting growth in our domestic as well as export volumes. With the new Ameo, a car that has been specially developed for India, we are expecting a higher demand from the domestic Indian market while we look at supplying more cars to our export markets too. In all, we expect to increase our production by around 15% this year as compared to the last one.”
To support the third shift manufacturing, Volkswagen India has already added approximately 800 new employees in the first step. Trusting the potential of the workforce in the region, Volkswagen India is planning on hiring even more employees as its production goes up through the year. Dr Andreas Lauermann said, “We have been hiring workforce across levels with varying skill sets. Our production processes demand skilled workers and we have been carefully appointing the right people for the right jobs.”
Volkswagen Pune Plant sees a strong potential in Indian automotive market and the Indian workforce, which is why the company continues to take steps towards expanding its operations. Volkswagen India currently manufactures Volkswagen Polo, Volkswagen Vento and ŠKODA Rapid at its manufacturing facility in Chakan, Pune. Additionally, Volkswagen also assembles the 1.5-litre TDI engine at this plant. Later this year, the Ameo will be added to the production portfolio on the same line. Volkswagen India has invested approximately Euro 800 million at the plant so far and employees over 4000 people.
