Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) has installed 320 new robots at its body shop as the manufacturer ramps up to produce the new Polo – and one or two other unconfirmed models – at its Uitenhage plant, in the Eastern Cape.

The roughly R4.5-billion investment to produce the new models,  announced last year, has been allocated to the upgrade and refurbishment of production facilities (R3-billion), the development of local supplier capacity (R1.5-billion) and the development and training of employees (R29-million).

The 320 new Kuka robots installed at the body shop form part of the Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) platform that will be introduced to the Uitenhage factory.

MQB platforms – there are a number of MQB platforms for smaller and larger cars – are Volkswagen’s strategy for shared modular construction of its transverse, front-engine, front-wheel drive vehicles. 

While a model may be said to use an MQB platform, it is not so much a platform, but rather a system for introducing standardisation across different platforms that share engine orientation — regardless of model, vehicle size or brand. 

This means MQB uses a core set of components across a variety of platforms — for example, sharing a common engine-mounting core for all drivetrains. As well as reducing weight, the concept, theoretically, allows different models, including those from the company’s various brands, such as Audi and Skoda – to be manufactured at the same plant, saving costs.

In VWSA’s case, it will also allow the company to produce more than one model on a single assembly line.

The MQB platform to be implemented at VWSA extends from the A0 to B segment. Within the Volkswagen brand this will eventually cover the Polo, Beetle, Golf, Scirocco, Jetta, Tiguan, Touran, Sharan, Passat and Volkswagen CC models.

“The Kuka robots will perform monotonous, high-precision work that will allow body shop employees to focus on tasks which require human involvement,” says VWSA MD and chairperson Thomas Schaefer.

“The introduction of robots will improve the ergonomics in the body shop as it reduces strain on our people . . . It paves the way for higher volumes and even better quality.”