After what seems like a century and a half, Volkswagen Malaysia have reopened their service centres and are operating at full capacity. This means that it is time to schedule your service appointment as soon as possible to avoid your warranty getting flushed out with the oil. Owners who have booked during the ‘Welcome Back’ campaign get priority slots.
All Volkswagen Malaysia dealers have adopted a ‘Safe Hands’ campaign where the entire process will be as contactless as possible. This new standard operating procedure includes contactless vehicle acceptance and pickup, sanitisation before and after repair, and cashless payments with e-invoicing.
Vehicle pick-up and drop-off will only be offered but only by selected dealers. Regular sanitisation of the premises and regular temperature screening on all staff and customers are applied throughout VPCM’s business operations.
Meanwhile in Germany, Volkswagen have restarted their machines at Wolfsburg after 39 days of closure. This is the longest shutdown in the company’s history.
The first model that to resume production is the bread and butter of Volkswagen, the Golf. Initially, Golf production recommenced on a one-shift basis — with reduced capacity and longer cycle times. Some 8,000 employees returned to the production halls on the first day. Multi-shift operations are expected to get underway again this week.
The Wolfsburg plant is one of the largest production facilities in the world, with an enormous supply chain that spans across the globe. With Wolfsburg firing up its production line, some 2,600 suppliers, majority located in Germany, have resumed production for Volkswagen’s main factory.
Some 1,400 vehicles are expected to have been built by the end of the first week of production at the Wolfsburg plant. Production is to be ramped up to more than 6,000 vehicles this week as multi-shift operation recommences, which is approximately 40 per cent production capacity prior to the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although recommencement of production in stages is a good sign towards economic recovery, Volkswagen Group aren’t taking any chances. Measures to protect the health of the workforce have been significantly expanded with 100 health protection measures put in place.
Among the 100 health protection measures include temperature screening and completing a health checklist at home before leaving to work. Walkway diversions have been set up to avoid contacts, numerous distance markers on floors act as guides for walking and for keeping distances during meetings. Mouth and nose protection must be worn in areas where minimum distances of 1.5 meters are not possible.
Cleaning frequency for washrooms have also been intensified with several hundred additional hand washing areas being installed across the plant areas. Every employee has also received a booklet containing detailed information on the precautionary measures. Being a global powerhouse, Volkswagen has shared this 100-point plan with its more than 40,000 suppliers and logistics partners throughout the world.
Welcome to the ‘new normal’, might as well get used to it.