São Paulo – The Volkswagen Brazil engine factory, in São Carlos, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, has adopted an employee training technique that has been calling attention of brand units in other countries. It is the use of an engine prototype made out of resin, created to be manipulated, assembled and disassembled by employees during their training. The vehicle maker has a training centre at the unit and started using the replica in early 2009, for the training of new personnel. People entering the unit before this period also had or will have the experience.
According to the Human Resources manager at the factory in São Carlos, Fernando Rodrigues, due to flexibly fuelled engines, the unit receives many visits by Volkswagen factory representatives from other countries, who end up learning about the training centre and become interested in the replica. "They take the model engines,” said Rodrigues, pointing out, however, that they are also interested in the training proposal as a whole, including the practical part, in which the replica is used, and the theoretical part. Over seven small engines have already been sent to other units, mainly in Europe.
According to Rodrigues, the idea arose after talks between several sectors of the unit, from HR to engineering and manufacture, in search for training solutions. The initial thought was using a car. “But our product (at the unit in São Carlos) is not cars, but engines,” said the manager, recollecting the thought at the time. That was when the engine prototype was reached as was the training surrounding it. What takes place today, then, is 16 hours of employee training, theoretical and then practical.
Each group receives a load of information about a series of areas, like ergonomics, logistics, quality and labour safety, among others. After that, the team heads off to practice, in manipulation of the engine. A third part is evaluation of the entire process, what worked out, what went wrong and what may be improved. These three steps are repeated four times over two days. According to Rodrigues, not only those working in production receive the training, but all employees do, even those in management. He said that 60% of workers at the unit have already been trained.
Despite having taken prototypes to their unit, there is no control of how many countries have effectively adopted the idea. And the replica model cannot be the same, as each factory has its particularities. Volkswagen, according to a spokesperson, produces engines in 19 units, and not all are exclusively turned to engines. In total, the vehicle carmaker has 62 units all over the world, in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The company does not produce in the Arab world.
At the São Carlos unit, the third largest Volkswagen engine unit, 818 people are employed and there are over 400 service providers. Production totals 42 kinds of engines, with a total of 3.100 engines completed a day, as well as another 300 partially completed. The engines produced are the 1.0, 1.4 and 1.6 cc engines for use in the Gol, Fox, Voyage, Crossfox, Saveiro, Polo, Polo Sedan, Kombi, Gol G4 and Golf vehicles. The unit was established in October 1996 and has already produces six million engines.
*Translated by Mark Ament
