VW engine plant swings into emergency mode amid crisis

Shanghai Volkswagen Powertrain Co Ltd has been in closed-loop production since Puxi area went into lockdown on April 1 to ensure continuous supply to its whole industry chain.

Most workers have received multi-role training for the position rotation system, so 550 multi point injection engines rolled off the production line to meet the urgent needs of customers on the first day of the lockdown.

"We feel a special sense of achievement in ensuring continuous supply for customers during the pandemic," said You Fengqing, manufacturing director of the company.

"With a minimum production staff of 16 percent and a single shift, 30 percent of production capacity has been rapidly restored, and more than 11,000 engines have rolled off the production line."

After learning that most areas in Shanghai would go into lockdown, Wang Dong, senior manager of the logistics and planning department, organized logistics resources in case of stopping production.

Eighty fully-loaded trucks brought in enough raw materials in just one day to ensure that the company's parts inventory met production requirements.

"Production cannot be stopped. There are always more ways than difficulties," said Wang.

For an engine assembly manufacturer, there are hundreds of key parts in an engine, while the raw materials come from more than 120 suppliers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.

"Once Puxi area goes into lockdown, the supply of our parts will be blocked, so we had to prepare the stock of parts before the lockdown began," said Wang. "This was a real challenge that I had never faced before."

"With the support and help of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization and the Jiading District, we obtained a cross-provincial transportation permit to ensure that the engines we produce can be fully supplied to Anting, Yizheng, Nanjing and Ningbo bases of SAIC Volkswagen."

The company always makes the requirements of pandemic prevention and control and the health and safety of employees its top priority.

Every corner is equipped with pandemic prevention, and every one had done the PCR testing. The staff working, activity and temporary accommodation areas are under strict grid management.

The pandemic prevention staff also quickly created four independent emergency isolation areas of more than 800 square meters and conducted two pandemic prevention emergency drills within three days, ensuring that every employee knows how to deal with emergencies