Porsche 2012 Annual Report Download - page 89

Production
Product and supplier quality
in the Volkswagen group
Customers are satisfied and loyal only when their
expectations of a product or service are met or
even exceeded. Reliability, appeal and service
determine the quality perceived by the customer
throughout the entire product experience. The
objective of the Volkswagen group is to surprise
and excite its customers in all these areas so that
the company can win them over with outstanding
quality.
In the reporting period, several new facilities
went into operation, numerous product start-ups
happened and Volkswagen used the Modular
Transverse Toolkit (MQB) for the first time. Despite
these challenging conditions, the Volkswagen
group maintained the high quality of the prior year
for all group brands and locations, and kept the
number of repairs at a consistently low level. The
Volkswagen group’s suppliers also made signifi-
cant contributions to this. The company expects
sustainable practices in addition to the highest
product quality and reliability of supply from
them.
In 2012, the Volkswagen group continued to
standardize its defect elimination process so that
the company can react even more quickly in the
future to vehicle problems and help its customers
even faster. Eliminating defects quickly pays off
for the Volkswagen group both by increasing
customer satisfaction and reducing warranty and
ex gratia repair costs.
The Volkswagen group’s production locations
The Volkswagen group’s production network was
extended by five locations in 2012, and consisted
of a total of 99 production facilities worldwide at
the end of the reporting period. It comprises 58
automobile, commercial vehicle and motorcycle
factories as well as 41 component plants. For the
first time, motorcycle plants are part of the produc-
tion network due to the integration of Ducati into
the Volkswagen group. Following the contribution
in full of Porsche’s automotive business to the
Volkswagen group, the corresponding plants in
Zuffenhausen and Leipzig are now members of the
network. The new vehicle plant in Yizheng in China
started production in the reporting period.
With 67 vehicle and component locations,
Europe remains the center of the Volkswagen
group’s production activities. The Asia-Pacific
region is becoming increasingly important and now
has 17 locations. In order to continue serving the
key North America market in the long term with
locally manufactured vehicles, the Volkswagen
group is now represented there at three production
sites. The number of production sites in South
America (nine sites) and Africa (three sites) remained
unchanged in the reporting period.
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