Case Study: Volkswagen EV Plant Supercharges Workplace Safety

As one of the largest automotive OEMs in the world, Volkswagen is committed to creating a safe working environment for its employees. That’s why the automotive manufacturer relies on MasterMover electric tugs to reduce manual handling, maximise flexibility and improve productivity in their production processes.

With a long-standing relationship with Volkswagen, MasterMover electric tugs are depended on to support various applications within the production process. The strength of this collaboration can be seen at their Zwickau Plant in Germany – Volkswagen’s flagship electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant, and the largest of its kind in Europe. Pioneering the production of electric vehicles, the site is a multi-brand production facility, manufacturing vehicles such as the ID.4 and even bodies for Bentley and Lamborghini.

The flexibility and safety of MasterMover electric tugs continue to drive Volkswagen’s adoption of the machines in various aspects of their production processes.

In this case study, we explore how Volkswagen reduced manual handling and improved safety in the movement of body-in-whites at Europe’s largest electric vehicle plant.

Within automotive manufacturing, the “body-in-white” stage is a crucial part of the process.

During this stage, body panels are welded and assembled to form the structure of a vehicle. Once the body-in-white has been assembled, it undergoes a series of tests to ensure correct alignment and that there are no structural defects. From there, the next step is painting, and finally it moves on to final assembly.

It’s within the movement of bodies throughout the quality and inspection test process that Volkswagen identified an opportunity to improve ergonomics and safety.

Weighing up to 1,500kg, the body-in-whites were moved manually from the production line to inspection booths – a task that required the physical effort of two production operatives.

By introducing the MT300+, Volkswagen has reduced manual handling, improved safety and in turn, improved productivity.

With a compact machine footprint, a single operator can now easily and precisely position the bodies in the inspection booth with complete confidence. The custom coupling also guarantees total load security and provides a turnkey system to connect with a high volume of trolleys in the factory.

The collaboration between MasterMover and Volkswagen continues to grow, with existing electric tugs in use across global factories and new requirements for safer, flexible material handling equipment coming from across the Volkswagen Group.