ŠKODA opens three additional training centers

›  New centers for logistics, car body construction and the paint shop at the Kvasiny plant

›  Thirteen ŠKODA training centers operating in four plants worldwide

›  Manufacturer continues to invest in the know-how of the production team

›  About 6,000 employees trained in 2011

Kvasiny, January 12^th, 2011 – ŠKODA has commissioned three new training centers for the areas of logistics, car body construction and the paint shop at the plant in Kvasiny. Thus, the manufacturer has a total of thirteen such facilities for educating and training the production teams in its plant.

The investments are an important measure within the framework of the ŠKODA Growth Strategy. The manufacturer wants to increase its worldwide sales to at least 1.5 million units per year, until the year 2018, and is also enhancing the production capacities in its plants in this context.

“Our growth course will make high demands on our employees in the coming years,” emphasizes Michael Oeljeklaus, the ŠKODA board member for Production and Logistics. ŠKODA invested a total of 600,000 EUR in the three new training centers in Kvasiny. They did not require any new construction; instead, existing buildings and spaces were rebuilt and expanded. The training will cover almost all functions of the areas affected, from production employees, coordinators and agency personnel to master craftsmen. The emphasis of the professional training is laid on the improvement of the process capabilities.

“At all manufacturing sites, we will build considerably more cars than in the past. That requires a well-trained and qualified team perfectly mastering the manufacturing processes in every regard. The targeted professional instruction in our training centers will ensure this qualification in a sustained manner and is, therefore, an essential component in our growth strategy,” Oeljeklaus explains.

The Czech automobile manufacturer has a tight network of training centers at its production locations. The three Czech plants and the Indian plant in Aurangabad have so-called, ‘lean centers,’ as well as centers for car body construction, engine production, logistics, car assembly, and paint shops. In 2011 alone, approximately 6,000 employees were trained. ŠKODA will continue its investments after the commissioning of the centers in Kvasiny. Thus, construction for the new ‘ŠKODA Lean Center’ at the main plant in Mladá Boleslav began in mid-December of 2011. Its emphasis will be the slimming down of processes in production and administration. ŠKODA will invest approximately 5.3 million EUR in this project alone.