In this third and last post on the Fendt Cabin Plant in Asbach-Bäumenheim, I will look in great detail at their digital dashboards as well as their excellent blue collar–driven continuous improvement process. I believe that true excellence can be achieved only through fast front-line improvement driven by the operators, and Fendt in Asbach-Bäumenheim is a good example of where it worked. As shown in my previous post, this plant has an outstanding performance, and the improvement system is the key driver for that. Read on!
Plant Visit
A Visit to the Fendt Cabin Plant in Asbach-Bäumenheim—Part 2
This is my second post on the excellent Fendt Cabin Plant in Asbach-Bäumenheim, which impressed me a lot with their efficiency and general organization. In my last post, I looked at the plant and the line in general. In this post I will go deeper into the topic of efficiency, line balancing, and shop floor management. My last post will then look into their good digital dashboard as well as their blue collar–driven continuous improvement process. Read on!
A Visit to the Fendt Cabin Plant in Asbach-Bäumenheim—Part 1
Recently, I had the chance to visit the Fendt Cabin Plant in Asbach-Bäumenheim (between Stuttgart and Munich) thanks to an invite from Tarik Kadrispahić from Targer Consulting (Thank you, Tarik!). I’d previously had the chance to see their main plant in Marktoberdorf, and I liked it a lot. Hence, I entered their plant in Asbach-Bäumenheim with high expectations. And Fendt did not disappoint! In this first blog post of this series, I will look at the plant in general, and the details of the assembly line.
The Grand Tour of German Automotive—The Unusual Volkswagen Transparent Factory Dresden
As part of my Grand Tour of German Automotive, I also visited the Volkswagen Transparent Factory Dresden (Gläserne Manufaktur). This plant is something of an oddball in automotive manufacturing, very different from all other automotive plants I have seen. Its purpose is quite different from “normal” car plants, and hence it cannot really be compared to a normal car plant. But it does fulfill its purpose rather well, albeit not quite cheaply. Let me show you this unusual plant…
The Grand Tour of German Automotive—Volkswagen Osnabrück
The Volkswagen plant in Osnabrück is actually the plant of the former cabriolet specialist Karmann, which went bankrupt in 2009 and was bought by Volkswagen. It is the specialist plant for the Volkswagen brand for cabriolets… but the Volkswagen brand will stop making cabriolets in 2025. It is also the overflow plant if other VW plants need more capacity… but VW itself has overcapacity. As a result, the plant suffers from a lack of love and especially money for investments from the Volkswagen headquarters. Hence, the plant looks run-down. But despite these disadvantages, the organization itself was decent, and better than in Wolfsburg or the Audi plants.
The Grand Tour of German Automotive—Volkswagen Emden
The VW plant in Emden is a well run plant, and among the best in the Volkswagen group. It is also producing only fully electric battery powered vehicles… which are not selling well. This leads to a lot of struggles and problems for the plant. Producing only one type of power train makes production more efficient but less flexible. And Emden is paying the price for this lack of flexibility. Other car makers usually opt to produce all kinds of power trains on the same assembly line. But the organization and lean-ness of the plant was good compared to other German car plants. Let’s have a look.
The Grand Tour of German Automotive—Volkswagen Wolfsburg
Volkswagen is one of the largest car makers in the world, and the largest German car maker. The Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg is by far the largest German automotive plant. However, in terms of lean performance, it is merely mediocre. On the other hand, it is not easy to run a production in protected historic buildings. Lets go and have a look at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg…
The Grand Tour of German Automotive—Audi Neckarsulm
As part of my Grand Tour of German Automotive, I visited the two Audi plants in Germany, the headquarters in Ingolstadt and the second plant in Neckarsulm. In my last post I showed you Ingolstadt, in this post you will see Neckarsulm, which makes (among other things) the ultra-luxurious Audi A8 and its variants. Both plants are interesting, albeit for me the Neckarsulm plant performs and feels a bit better. Read on!