SEAT’s Martorell factory is the recipient of the Production Transformation Award given by the German magazine Automobil Produktion and strategy consulting firm Roland Berger, which recognises auto production facilities which particularly stand out for decisively adapting its processes to face future challenges.
In a time of huge change for companies in the automotive industry, the aim of the award, which this year is in its second edition, is to award prizes to car production optimisation solutions, combining current needs such as flexibility, efficiency, quality and delivery reliability as well as new forms of mobility, digitalisation and electrification, among others.
The jury evaluates six performance factors: production elasticity, economic sustainability, ecological sustainability, digitalisation, cooperation models and competence assurance. As an example of this transformation, SEAT has developed planning systems for its logistics using big data that allow real-time controlling and monitoring of the supply chain.
A main part of this change is transforming the employees. For this reason, the company is accelerating the training of its more than 15,000 employees with education programmes centred on digitalisation and new technologies so they will be ready for the transformation of the sector and the evolution of jobs of today and tomorrow.
“The automotive industry is on the road to the future in a highly automated environment with smart machines and interconnected devices”, pointed out Martorell factory director Dr. Rainer Fessel. “In Martorell we have begun to take firm steps in this direction, maintaining the productivity, quality and efficiency that distinguish us. The award is a major recognition of all the teams in the factory that believe in this transformation and make it possible with their daily work”, he emphasised when accepting the award at a ceremony in Munich, Germany.
The Martorell factory, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018, has become a benchmark in the automotive industry. It is the leading plant in Spain in terms of output, with a production volume of 474,300 vehicles in 2018. In the past quarter century, 39 different models have rolled off the assembly lines at Spain’s largest car factory, from second generation SEAT Ibiza models and the first SEAT Cordoba to the SEAT Arona or the Audi A1, which it began to produce a few months ago.
As an example of the transformation which earned it the award, today the factory has more than 2,000 robots. They coexist with the factory’s 8,000 employees, who turn out 2,400 vehicles daily, or one car approximately every 30 seconds.
SEAT Communications
Cristina Vall-Llosada
Head of Corporate Communications
M/ +34 646 295 296
cristina.vall-llosada@seat.es
María José Aguilar
Corporate Communications
M/ +34 681 270 021
maria-jose.aguilar@seat.es