WDEF News 12 - Covering Volkswagen News

Volkswagen Needs More Suppliers

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:28:16 -0400

Site preparation is complete at Enterprise South, and ready for another major auto plant.
Chattanooga and Hamilton county leaders hope Volkswagen will use the land to build a new SUV.

But there are a few obstacles to overcome first.

Volkswagen's top executive in Chattanooga, Frank Fischer, told a Nashville business group over the weekend that his company needs to attract more parts suppliers.

The Chamber of Commerce calls that a great opportunity for Chattanooga.

Ron Harr, CEO\Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce
"We are working very closely with the state department of economic development. They've got a local office here and we're working with the Nashville office..so we are all teamed-up together to try to go after recruiting some of their suppliers to the greater Chattanooga area."

Mexico, which has made V-W products for 60 years, is also after the new plant.
Ron Harr says suppliers who locate here could also serve other car plants all over what he calls "The New Automotive South".

Chattanooga Plans for Possible Volkswagen Expansion

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:20:00 -0400

Chattanooga steps up its efforts to land another Volkswagen line.

The city's industrial development board approved spending over $7-million to finish site work on land next to the existing plant, which produces the Passat.

Back in May, the city started clearing that land at Enterprise South, to be ready, if and when, Volkswagen wants to move forward.

Work should be completed by the end of the year.

City planners continue to say nothing is imminent, but Volkswagen could make a decision in the coming months about whether to produce the new Crossblue SUV... and if its a go, whether to build that in Chattanooga or Mexico.

VW Parents Lose Daycare Hours

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:50:14 -0400

        Volkswagen mom and dads say they love their children's daycare...
        "Aforability, the location is right across the street from my job, we're a mile away from our home so its great," said Laquishal Greer
        Erlanger Pharmacy opened the daycare with a discount to Volkswagen employees last April.
        This week the company president announced they were cutting their 24 hour daycare to a 5am to 6:30pm care.
        In a meeting about the changes, they said there weren't enough children enrolled in overnight care to keep it going.
        Parents were not happy with what they heard.
        "We asked okay how many kids would it take for you to provide evening care and she had no numbers for us so that was very frustrating," said parent Heather Mitchell.
        Parents were also frustrated that they were only given a three weeks notice.
        Erlanger Pharmacy had a contract with childcare provider Candy Castle.
        That contract is also over February 28th, so all the daycare employees will have to re-apply for jobs.

Volkswagen Paint Shop Requests Increase in Nitrous Oxide Emissions Limit

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:09:36 -0400

     Volkswagen hopes the Chattanooga Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau will let it up its emissions of Nitrous Oxide.
     The Enterprise South car production plant wants a 20% increase in the NOx emissions.
     The emissions come from natural-gas fueled equipment at the paint shop.
     Air Pollution Control Bureau director Bob Colby determined the request is in line with limits already established at other car assembly plants in the U-S.
     Guenther Scherelis is the general manager for Communications at Volkswagen of America. He explained, "The NOx emission was guessed in 2008. Two years before the equipment was installed. And so two years later when we found out how much emissions we had, and measured it during the run-up of the plant, we had to increase our limiting values by about 20%."
     A public hearing on the permit request will take place on December 3rd at the Development Resource Center.

Volkswagen Passat Has Best Sales Year Ever

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:36:00 -0400

     Volkswagen celebrates a stellar year for the Passat.
     The company has already surpassed its annual sales record for the Chattanooga-built sedan.
     More than 77,500 of the cars have been sold so far this year.
     That means 2012 is the best year of sales ever in the U-S.
     The previous record was 2001.
     This comes after the Passat picked up several accolades.
     It was named Kelley Blue Book's Family Car of the Year, and www.Cars.com's "Best of 2012."

Tennessee's Largest Solar Park Under Construction at Chattanooga's Volkswagen Plant

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:45:00 -0400

Work is underway on the largest solar array project in Tennessee.
And it's right here in Chattanooga at the Volkswagen plant.
The German automaker invited us to the installation of the first of more than 33,000 panels this morning.
Workers with Phoenix Solar U-S begin a massive undertaking at Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant.
They're installing a 33,600 panel solar park...the largest single solar array in Tennessee.

Jeff Lee, Phoenix Solar US, "We're very proud of that fact and looking forward to building a good quality project for Volkswagen."

Volkswagen tells us the $30 million project will feed power directly into the plant, providing 12.5 % of the energy.

Thilo Brockhaus, VW Manager of Plant Construction, "The solar installation can produce 9.58 megawatts DC, which is 7.6 megawatt AC. That provides you with 13.1 gigawatt hours annual power. You could power 1,200 house holds with that per year."

Lee, "These panels, everything here, is designed for approximately an 80 mile per hour wind load. I've actually seen the panels take a baseball at 40 miles per hour prior to breaking the glass."

The solar park is being built on 65 acres at Enterprise South.

Brockhaus, "The remaining space between the solar array and the factory is reserved for later expansion of the supplier park."

The Solar park also helps to finalize the onsite renewable energy component of Volkswagen's platinum LEED certification
It's all part of the German Auto maker's continued focus on protecting the environment...by making cleaner cars with better gas mileage in greener plants.
The solar park is expected to start producing power late this fall.

Volkswagen Hosts Third Annual Minority Business Trade Show in Chattanooga

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:54:00 -0400

Volkswagen says it's already exceeded its goals for purchasing from minority businesses by the start of production at its Chattanooga plant.
Now, it's full speed ahead for the German Automaker's efforts to involve them.
That's where the third annual "Partnering for Success" Minority Business Trade Show comes in.
More than 40 of Volkswagen's biggest suppliers from all over the country joined minority business representatives here in Chattanooga... for the event.

John Taylor, Delphi Corp. a VW Supplier, "Delphi is truly committed to diversity both socially and from a business aspect. I came down here to find some suppliers we can do business with."

John Taylor came from Michigan at the invitation of his client... Volkswagen.

Keith Eakins, VW Manager of Supply Diversity, "We're looking for companies that are looking to do business that's the purpose of this show is companies that want to come and grow their business. This platform and this day is for those companies to come."

Eakins says events like this are the reason that the German Automaker earned recognition as Tennessee's corporation of the year for minority supply development.
And minority businesses owners in our region say they're reaping rewards too.

Frances Hall, Hall Communications Inc., "Some of my client companies, which when they get contracts that means I get contracts and so yes that has happened."

Organizers say the wheeling and dealing taking place here can have far reaching economic impact.

Cheri Henderson, TN Minority Supplier Development Council, "Whenever you bring more business into a company that causes expansion. Expansion creates the need for more employment and more employment increases the purchasing power, thus strengthening our communities as a whole."

Plans are already in the works to make the fourth annual minority business trade show even bigger and better than this year's.

A Tour Inside Volkswagen's Paint Shop

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:44:50 -0400

     It's a first look inside the working Volkswagen plant. Members of the media took a tour of the paint shop to see why this state-of-the-art facility helped earn Volkswagen LEED certification.
    Assistant Paint Shop Manager Leslie Williams explained the process. She said, "In our pre-treat system we have a rotational dip system. And one of the reasons for this is to reduce the size of the tanks and this helps us reduce our chemical and water usage."
    This is a first of its kind operation. Williams added, "And in this booth, in our paint booth, we use a dry-scrubber system. And the dry-scrubber system eliminates a water-scrubbing system. The dry-scrubber system also allows us to very efficiently re-use our booth air, which drastically reduces our energy usage for our booth."
     Maintenance Manager Mike Johnston added, "We save somewhere in the range of 75,000 liters of water per day."
     Another feather in VW's cap is the elimination of the primer step. Williams explained, "We've been able to eliminate a whole paint booth and a whole paint oven."
     So how does it all work? The first of the five stops in the paint shop is pre-treatment. Williams said, "We put a zinc phosphate coating on the car, E-coat where we out electro-deposition on the car."
     Then the paint coats get completely sealed from the elements to make sure corrosion doesn't happen. Next stop: top-coat. Williams said, "Right now we're in the top-coat booth where we base coat and clear coat the car."
     The last step is wax, but that wasn't a stop on this tour. Williams explained why. She said, "It's very hot and dirty over in wax."

Hamilton Co.'s STEM School On Track for August 13th Opening

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:53:30 -0400

The new high school in Hamilton County specializing in science, technology, engineering and math is on schedule.
Superintendent Rick Smith says its on track to be finished next month...just in time for the first day of School.
And today Volkswagen gave the effort a $50,000 boost.
Crews are putting the finishing touches on Hamilton County's new STEM School.
By August 13th 78 9th graders will be learning all about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math here at Chatt state...with help from six teachers an a principal.

Rick Smith, Hamilton Co. School Superintendent, "They were actually at camp last week. Our staff is working hard, small staff but a really, really strong staff we're really proud of, has been working hard all summer."

STEM is a necessity of the future in education and the economy.
That's why a leader in both those areas is a driving force behind the STEM initiative.

Hans-Herbert Jagla, Volkswagen , "We are involved in cases, how to teach, what to teach, what we are going to do. We are a part of the curriculum development."

The latest support from Volkswagen comes in the form of a $50,000 dollar check for the STEM Hub.
That's a resource center managed by the Public Education Foundation.

Tracey Carisch, Public Education Foundation, "We will basically be charged with a number of things. One, we will be cultivating business partnerships like this to make sure that we have the supports we need to help support STEM skills among teachers and students. We'll be developing programs that will help support students and teachers as they expand their STEM capabilities and we'll also be communicating to the region what STEM really is."

The district still needs around $150,000 dollars to finish constructing the STEM School.
It's already gotten more than $350,000 in money and in kind donations.
Next Tuesday stakeholders get their first look at the new school.
They'll take a tour of the facility at 10 am.

Oak Ridge National Lab Scholars Visit Chattanooga VW Plant

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:06:56 -0400

Interns from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) visited Volkswagen Chattanooga as part of the Volkswagen Distinguished Scholars Program, a student research initiative sponsored by the manufacturer.

During their visit, the students participated in a career development seminar, as well as a tour of the factory and training academy. They were accompanied by ORNL researchers and scientists, who serve as mentors to the students for the duration of their internship.

The 10-week summer research program is an enhanced internship experience for undergraduate and graduate students studying scientific and technical fields. Currently in its third year of operation, the program selects students from Volkswagen’s Partners in Education group of Tennessee universities to participate in research projects geared toward manufacturing, engineering and transportation science.

During their internship, students have access to research facilities, equipment and a network of scientific mentors at ORNL. Upon completion of their projects, students also have the opportunity to transition into internships at Volkswagen Chattanooga.

Volkswagen Chattanooga’s Partners in Education program has provided more than $3 million toward education in Tennessee since 2009. Its current partner universities include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Fisk University, Tennessee State University, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee Chattanooga and University of Tennessee Knoxville. Students from Tennessee Tech are also eligible for the ORNL program. For more information about the internship program and application process, please visit http://www.orau.org/volkswagen/.