Škoda to Increase Capacity at Vrchlabi Plant

Instead of the previously planned capacity of 1,000 transmissions, the plant at the foot of the Giant Mountains will produce up to 1,500 transmissions per day.

That is the result of negotiations at the group level, which the management of Škoda Auto has jointly concluded with the leadership of the union OS KOVO. The launch of the production of transmissions in Vrchlabí will take place in September 2012.

The 50 percent capacity expansion that is to begin in 2013 will significantly improve the utilization of the Škoda site in Vrchlabí. “Together with the labor representatives and the Volkswagen Group, we have reached a good decision. This resolution offers the plant and its employees clear prospects for the future,” emphasizes ŠKODA’s board member for Human Resources, Bohdan Wojnar.

“Now it is important to work with high pressure and care for the successful preparation of the production start in September and the expansion that is to begin in 2013,” continues Wojnar. A few weeks ago, the first Škoda training center for the assembly of gearboxes in Vrchlabí commenced its pilot operation.

The plant in Vrchlabí had already been selected for the production of the DQ200 transmission in 2011. The 7-gear dual-clutch transmission DQ200 is among the most innovative automatics transmissions in the automotive industry. The DQ200 transmission – the ‘D’ stands for ‘directly’ shifting and the ‘Q’ for its transverse mounting [transverse = “quer” in German] – offers the comfortable shifting of an automatic transmission combined with quick gear shifts without torque interruption.