ŠKODA AUTO secured first place in the ‘Special Award – Smart Digital Application’ category of the prestigious Automotive Lean Production awards for its project ‘dProduction’ at its Kvasiny plant in the Czech Republic. The industry magazine AUTOMOBIL PRODUKTION and the consultants Agamus Consult selected the winners of the Automotive Lean Production awards from more than 1,200 applicants from 17 countries.
As part of the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies, the ŠKODA AUTO project ‘dProduction’ deals with the digitalisation of manufacturing processes. ‘dProduction’ makes the paperless assembly line more efficient, saves time, prevents errors, makes it easier to find paperwork as well as manuals, and helps with workplace orientation. The project is based on four pillars: Visualisation of Complexity, Digital Team Work, Digital Quality Management and Digital Work Instruction.
The Czech manufacturer launched the concept in April this year at its Kvasiny plant for the ŠKODA SUPERB and KODIAQ assembly lines. ŠKODA AUTO invested more than 1.2 million euros in the project. The company has been continuously modernising its production site in Eastern Bohemia for many years so that it can run at maximum capacity.
Michael Oeljeklaus, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Production and Logistics, said, “The Automotive Lean Production award is further proof that Kvasiny is one of the most advanced production sites in the world. We are delighted that the panel of experts picked our site in Kvasiny as one of the best car factories for the recently implemented ‘dProduction’ project.”
Oeljeklaus will accept the award on behalf of the Production and Logistics department at the 14th Automotive Lean Production conference, which will be hosted by Volkswagen in Wolfsburg on 5 and 6 November 2019. The Automotive Lean Production awards are presented by Agamus Consult each year in collaboration with specialist magazine AUTOMOBIL PRODUKTION, and take place with the theme of “Learning from the best”. The aim of the initiative is to establish a benchmark for lean production and digitalisation in the global automotive industry. The best performers will therefore be presenting their lean production concepts and tools at the two-day event in November.