Resuming of production
resuming of production
Despite the quarantine
Thanks to our employees’ commitment, restarting production was a smooth process
n Monday, 27 April, at six o'clock in the morning, ŠKODA AUTO restarted production at all three of its Czech plants after 39 days of outage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Production resumed without any major problems and with strict safety precautions. The aim is to protect workers and ensure the carmaker is working on a stable basis. “We would like to thank all employees for their patience, understanding and responsible approach to the whole situation”, says Marek Jancák, Head of PF – Car Production. According to him, production resumed smoothly and the carmaker’s employees are continuing to adhere to strict safety measures in order to prevent the coronavirus from spreading at their facilities.
“It is important that we remain cautious and respect the basic rules of conduct that we have followed so responsibly to date. Among other things, to wear face masks, keep distance and not meet in larger groups,” appeals the board to the employees.
Preparations
Before restarting production, the carmaker had, in cooperation with the KOVO Trade Union and other specialist departments, formulated more than 80 specific safety and organisational measures. They range from the obligation to wear respiratory protection (face mask) at the workplace to a changed mode at gates and during breaks, as well as random temperature measurements upon arrival at work and the disinfection of exposed areas. Employees are provided the necessary protective equipment, including disinfectants, and encouraged to be vigilant. If possible, the carmaker supports home office.
Restarting production
“The entire restart of production took place gradually according to how individual facilities are interconnected”, Jancák explains. On Monday morning, the welding stations opened in Mladá Boleslav and Kvasiny, where the Paint Shop also restarted operation, as well as gearbox production in Vrchlabí. On the same day in the afternoon, work at the Assembly Shop in Kvasiny and Paint Shop A in Mladá Boleslav started. The assembly lines in Mladá Boleslav, including the production plug-in hybrid models traction batteries, commenced on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday morning, the second Mladá Boleslav Paint Shop started manufacturing.
Restrictions persist
“For the time being, the carmaker operates two shifts instead of three”, explains the head of Car Production regarding the current situation. He clarifies that ŠKODA AUTO coordinated the restart of production with key suppliers. “Until now, we’ve managed to work in the usual just-in-time mode”, says Jancák, while confirming that suppliers also had to adapt to the current situation.
ŠKODA AUTO is regularly informing its employees of preventive measures via leaflets, posters, digital channels and the managers and foremen.
The preventive measures, which are divided into three phases, will continue depending on the way the situation develops. For the time being, however, the first and strictest phase remains in place, providing employees with the highest level of protection. “We will thoroughly inform employees of all changes in the measures; for now, please be patient and responsible and comply with the current regulations”, asks Jancák. Luděk Vokáč
Steps necessary to restart production
In addition to securing supply chains, the management of the Production and Logistics area has focused on options to involve commuters.
In cooperation with the KOVO Trade Union, an extensive concept called “Safe Production” and “Safe Office” was established with more than 80 health organisational and safety measures.
It is also recommended that people, for example, refrain from shaking hands, wash or disinfect them regularly and not touch their face.
The carmaker has also re-organised employee transport, the modus operandi at gates and receptions, the canteens’ working mode and attendance records.
As far as production employees are concerned, a plan to use smaller teams has been established.
Before the restart of production, live training was held with more than 750 foremen to familiarise them with the measures and to further instruct their work teams.
Jan Šimek, logistics specialist
PF2-I, hala M1, logistika
During the outage, our manager was regularly informing us of the situation at the plant, and I received important information three days in advance. I returned to work three days before the restart of production to check the robots´ functionality and to ensure a smooth start to activities in our department. Everything worked out.
Lukáš Miler, foreman
Foreman of PF1-M/121 V – Assembly line MB I
During the shutdown, my colleagues and I mainly focused on information regarding how and when we would start to produce and then passed on the information to my subordinates. In this respect, the carmaker worked perfectly, and I got to know about everything in time. The foremen started working a few days before production resumed. They had to prepare all protective equipment, ensure a safe working environment for all our colleagues and complete all the training. We were also given attention by the head of Car Production, who provided specific information on how production would resume.
Taťána Malyš, coordinator
PFK-M/1 – Assembly line KV ML1
Before restarting production, we mainly focused on its date with new safety measures. We also regularly informed our subordinates. This was the first time we worked this way (i.e. remotely), and we have learnt a lot, e.g. Skype conferences proved to be a modern virtual communication means. I returned to work a week before the planned restart. My colleagues and I have been preparing a set of hygiene measures, a new organisation of team spaces etc. for employees to provide for greater distances between individual people. Disinfectants in busy places, including dining areas, team rooms, vending machines and the like, are a matter of course.
Busy weeks for Internal Communication
f the 20 communication tools that the carmaker uses to address employees, only a few remained functional during the outage. Just one in three domestic employees owns a business phone or laptop, and ŠKODA AUTO lost its direct path of communication to everyone else. Therefore, the Internal Communication team, in agreement with the S and P departments, focused on three activities.
Immediately after the shutdown of production, it launched a video channel on the Vimeo platform, where it recorded important announcements and information, as well as answers to frequently asked questions. Each recording ended with a request for employees to share this video channel with their colleagues and other people. Thus, the news spread through word of mouth. After four weeks, this channel had 34,000 unique viewers, which roughly corresponds to the number of ŠKODA AUTO employees in the entire Czech Republic. Furthermore, the department’s employees focused on collecting private telephone numbers so that they could inform everyone via the SMS Infoservis. Almost everyone responded – even commuters from the surrounding countries! Thanks to this, the Internal Communication department could inform them before the restart of production how operations would resume in individual sections, about the securing of collection lines, hygienic measures and other news. As a third communication tool, which proved to be very successful, employees were invited to send questions to the Internal Communication team via e-mail. They received an answer to every question, and some questions were also addressed by the reactions of experts on the mentioned video channel. In addition, based on these questions, the carmaker formed a clear idea of which topics to focus on in further communication and what employees think is important. While the carmaker intends to continue using Vimeo, the SMS Infoservis will only be activated for special announcements. RED
Follow Internal Communication Vimeo channel
We haven’t been idle
It is practically impossible to resume production overnight. What else had to be worked on during the outage?
Company logistics
For example, all logistics departments have been working on restarting production and ensuring that the process runs smoothly. Together with the Sales department, these employees decided which orders from the production programme would be secured first, which goods would be shipped etc. Additionally, we constantly monitor the suppliers and customers situation and focus on up-to-date information from critical regions. In cooperation with the PK – Components Production department, these employees have been checking the volumes of some critical parts every day, especially those from risky destinations. Activities related to the management and care of foreign projects continued, with personal meetings replaced by Skype conferences. Pre-series logistics continued uninterruptedly and has been preparing all new pre-series parts to even accelerate following the outage of constructing verification series for new projects.During the outage, the Operational Logistics staff ensured the delivery of shields from 3D printers to medical facilities in the Czech Republic and were among the first to introduce temperature measurements to truck drivers at the 13th gate. “In exceptional situations, we can rely on ourselves in logistics; we are a team, and we all pull together. The willingness to do the maximum for the carmaker is appreciated”, adds the brand’s logistics management.
Components production
During the quarantine, they focused on issues caused by the pandemic and government measures during the lockdown. These employees dealt with the situation for commuters and foreign workers, and as part of the production restart, hygienically handling the touch screens and panels and maintaining a safe distance between employees, as well as changes regarding breaks, became the focus. RED