ŠKODA AUTO produced just under 1.3 million vehicles in 2018. In addition to the two main plants in Mladá Boleslav and Kvasiny, Skoda products are also manufactured at another 15 locations.

ŠKODA AUTO employ around 9,000 employees at the Kvasiny plant, making it one of the largest employers in the Hradec Králové region. The company is continuously optimizing production at the East Bohemian plant in order to use the plant's capacity to the best advantage. E.g. the SKODA KODIAQ is assembled on its own SUV production line, but it can alternatively run off the production line together with the SKODA SUPERB.

In recent years, the Kvasiny plant has undergone the biggest modernization and expansion of their more than 80-year history.They continuously optimized the production in order to use the plant's capacity to the best advantage. To put it in the words of SKODA AUTO Production and Logistics Director, Mr Michael Oeljeklaus: "In 2018, we exceeded the mark of 300,000 vehicles produced at our Kvasiny plant for the first time. The production record shows clearly: With a highly competent workforce and state-of-the-art technology, the plant is well prepared for the future as a multifunctional centre of excellence in manufacturing."

In the context of Industry 4.0, this certainly includes the use of digital applications to increase efficiency in the entire production environment. The Skoda employees impressively demonstrated this to the evaluation team through the dProduction piloted at the Kvasiny plant. In the dProduction project, the previously separate data worlds of planning and line were brought into accordance. dProduction consists of the four integrated modules:

• Visualization of Complexity
• Digital Team Work
• Digital SQS
• Digital Work Instruction

The highlights of dProduction are the following:

• Role-specific training of employees using virtual reality
• Digital and multilingual provision of work instructions at the assembly workplaces
• Targeted digital query and confirmation of test steps
• Online visualization of assembly workplace assignment on the tablets of the assembly line managers
• Digitized shop floor management

In addition to dProduction, there are many other smart applications, e.g. "mobile by maintenance" in maintenance or "pick by watch" in logistics.

"Simply clever" - this slogan by Skoda also perfectly matches the Kvasiny plant's smart digital applications. The jury was impressed by the pragmatic and stringent implementation of dProduction within a very short period of time and with a manageable budget. The result is an outstanding cost-benefit ratio. This was only possible because the involved Skoda employees invested a lot of heart and soul in their project. Not least for this reason, the evaluation team is convinced that the Kvasiny plant is well prepared for the future and will continue to make the most of the opportunities offered by digitization.

www.skoda-auto.com

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