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- the savings created by the continuous improvements means total spend on staff remains about the same. Recognizing that getting the team involved at all stages results in improvements in production; Volvo Cars encourages all staff to be curious, ask questions, and develop their knowledge.“ The best of our people are in the new factories, so we gain from their skills and retain their knowledge for the future as well,” adds Magnus.
Thanks to the approaches adopted at Volvo Car Torslanda, company culture has emerged as a defining factor. People are keen to work at the plant, enabling Volvo to recruit the best candidates and maintain a status of prestige as a prospective employer.“ We are breaking down the traditional views of manufacturing, as a male-centric, harsh environment. More than one third of our staff are women and we are keen to build a diverse workforce. If people are open to learning, we will give them every opportunity to develop and it’ s fantastic to see the energy in the people who are achieving great things.”
Volvo Car Torslanda’ s transformation extends beyond its own operations. As a‘ mother plant’ – Volvo’ s term for facilities that pioneer new platforms – it will guide sister plants worldwide through the electric transition.“ Our new plant in Slovakia will use SPA3 and benefit from the lessons we’ ve learned,” says Magnus.“ We send leaders and senior operators to share knowledge, and others come to help us.”
With Torslanda now running both its existing and new platforms, Magnus notes that this offers flexibility around customer demand.“ This is great for the plant because we can mix PHEV, mild hybrids and EVs. However, it does come at a cost- from my perspective I would prefer to have one platform, and over time, that is our end target. But at the moment it is great to have this flexibility, and we can adjust
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