Cut 30,000 jobs? Volkswagen’s efficiency course is absolutely correct
It is an open secret in Wolfsburg that there is already nothing more to do for numerous VW employees at the main plant, comments Philipp Vetter
Source: Getty Images / Maja Hitij; Claudius plow
VW’s main plant in Wolfsburg is inefficient and sluggish. It is long overdue that CEO Herbert Diess is now drafting scenarios of how this can be changed. Those who do not face the new reality will lose to Tesla – and then there is far more at stake.
Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess is right that something must finally move in Wolfsburg. Even if you would like it to be different at IG Metall, the leisurely years in the auto industry are over. The giant Volkswagen has been sluggish for a long time, but now there are attackers who are more agile and efficient and who attack the supremacy of the group.
While Tesla is also revolutionizing connectivity and control after driving the car, the elimination of a currywurst in a canteen is considered revolutionary in Wolfsburg. Incidentally, a currywurst with its own part number from VW production, made by collective bargaining employees.
There are managers in Wolfsburg who consider sausage producers to be more efficient than many of their auto colleagues. It is an open secret in Wolfsburg that there is already nothing more to do for numerous VW employees at the main plant. But the overpowering works council, together with the state of Lower Saxony as shareholders, prevents VW from becoming more competitive. So the remaining work is distributed over more and more shoulders. That can’t go well in the long run.
Of course, the starting conditions are unequal: Tesla can reposition itself in the new auto world that the Americans have created themselves. The plant in Grünheide is being trimmed for efficiency, the cars are being built in a highly automated manner, which lowers costs. Elon Musk doesn’t even have to deal with structures from the combustion era. One can regret that or, like the union, declare job cuts at VW to be “not debatable”. That won’t change anything in reality.
VW has to face this reality and is fortunate that the CEO has recognized this. Years will be uncomfortable in the auto industry, jobs will be lost. Not everyone whose father and grandfather worked at VW will also be able to do an apprenticeship there in the future.
But the alternative is not that everything just continues as before. Those who do not adapt to the new reality will have no chance of asserting themselves against the attackers. And then well over 30,000 jobs are at risk.
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