After Lockdown: Restart: VW headquarters produces in start-up mode

As soon as he arrives at gate 17, the Prime Minister has to make a self-test in Corona times. “This is a basic course on how to drink coffee with masks,” says Stephan Weil.

It is early shift in Wolfsburg, Monday morning, 7 a.m. With works council chief Bernd Osterloh and chief of staff Gunnar Kilian, Lower Saxony’s head of government – a member of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board – has a hot drink. On the southern edge of the largest factory in the world, the baker advertises the breakfast offer at his mobile stand. There is also a twitchy American with a marzipan mask.

In cautious steps, VW resumes production at its headquarters at the start of the week – after almost a month and a half of lockdown due to the virus crisis. Zwickau, Bratislava, almost all Chinese works are back on the net. Today, Emden and Hanover are also to be added. “We have changed everything that is important to ensure the safety of our employees,” emphasizes Group CEO Herbert Diess. “We are now going up very slowly.” As in Zwickau, however, capacity in Wolfsburg is still limited: this week at a maximum of 15 percent, and by the end of next week at around 40 percent. About 8,000 employees have returned – usually up to 70,000 work here. 2600 suppliers also resumed production.

Hall 54 is already busy – although the atmosphere still feels a bit like warming up. The Golf is starting, it has been produced since Monday on assembly lines 1 and 3. On Wednesday, Tiguan and Touran will follow. “Everyone is happy to be back,” says brand manager Ralf Brandstätter.

To prevent infections with the coronavirus, VW relies on equalization: the tape runs at half-speed for the time being, so fewer employees have to be in a confined space. The joint 10 o’clock break is no longer necessary, explains plant manager Stefan Loth. Instead, employees go to breaks separately. From the team rooms, the lockers were carved out of the door, so that they are accessible to all in the rooms despite the limited number of employees. In addition, everyone is asked to measure fever at home before the working day.

If you are already on the conveyor belt these days, you will find a completely revamped working environment. On the one hand, there is the mandatory mouth-nose protection at stations where the minimum distance of 1.50 meters is not to be observed. Everywhere there are markings on the floor, walkways have been diverted, posters with hygiene instructions hang on the walls. At points with unavoidable closer contact, the Group relies on spit protection: tables are divided in the middle with plexiglass, individual workstations on the belt are separated with thick foils, the engine compartments can be worked from left and right, a partition is located in the middle. Sometimes, however, it also does a simple plastic wrap in which keyboards and mice are wrapped.

For colleagues, the work is now “at least as safe as at home or in public,” says Diess. For Weil, he has a practical tip: If the glasses are too quick to take off the breath when the protective mask is put on, you should brush them with toothpaste beforehand, so that it becomes completely fat-free. But the VW boss also has a wish for politicians: a quick decision to encourage customers to buy in order to cushion the slump in demand in the car industry.

A concern with which he meets with Weil’s ears. “We are aware that we need a quick decision. Too long a discussion is likely to be out of place,” the Prime Minister says. He sees the fact that VW is slowly but purposefully starting production as “an important signal – also for suppliers who have been waiting for it urgently.” It is not just about corporations. “We are talking about a lot of medium-sized companies all over Germany.”

What is clear is that the road back to normality will take a while in Wolfsburg as well. “We have to be aware that we have not yet overcome Corona,” warns Kilian, Chief Human Resources Officer. There is an obligation to ensure on an ongoing basis that the number of cases does not rise again. Osterloh agrees with the staff in a letter to the challenges ahead, which come with the new, unfamiliar protective measures: “This is a board, but it is not possible otherwise, because we all want to stay healthy.”