Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus’s main production plant is located in Resende, a town around 150 kilometers away from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s where the VW Delivery, the VW Constellation, the Volksbus, and the MAN TGX, which is sold in the Central and South American markets, are manufactured.
A typical scene at the plant’s production line: the chassis of a Delivery truck slowly rolls along the production line before stopping. This is one of the last production steps—after this, the tires are mounted onto the Delivery by the fitters. One final push and the production chain has come to an end.
What’s unusual about this particular step is that it’s not performed by a Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus employee. Instead, trucks and buses produced in Resende are manufactured in line with an innovative production system known as Consórcio Modular.
This modular production concept makes suppliers partners of the production chain. Not only do they deliver the components in question, they actually install them on site.
This aspect of Consórcio Modular enables a highly flexible production process that is as streamlined as possible, with minimal fixed costs. The modular concept reduces production and storage costs while also cutting down on production time. It gives Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus employees the chance to focus on quality assurance, sales, and service, as well as on developing new products.
Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus shares responsibility for the production chain with a total of seven suppliers. One of them supplies the chassis, for example, while another installs the engine. Yet another company is responsible for on-site welding, and the supplier in the VW Delivery example is in charge of tire management. There are also suppliers responsible for cab painting and the last meters of the production chain.
Speaking of tires, it’s time to go back to the production hall, where the Delivery’s tires have been mounted and the last screw has been tightened. Not long now until the truck can be handed over to the customer. Here it goes—safe journey!