As from next Monday (4th of May 2020), Porsche will restart its production, considering site- and task-specific requirements. All necessary preparations have been concluded to guarantee the highest possible safety for employees and to ensure production can be gradually increased to full capacity. Employees will resume work in stages, as production ramps up at the main factory in Zuffenhausen and at the site in Leipzig.
“The restart is an important signal for our employees as well as for our customers. We have monitored and analysed the situation very carefully from the get-go and adapted processes in a flexible way. Now is the right time to look forward with optimism and to resume work, with the appropriate precautions in place,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG.
A comprehensive catalogue of measures has been approved for the Porsche factories in Zuffenhausen and Leipzig. In addition to paying utmost importance to the protection of all employees, the measures are designed to enable the resumption of an orderly and efficient production in the shortest time possible. For example, employees are required to observe a minimum distance of 1.50 metres, follow basic rules of conduct and to wear a face mask in defined areas.
Medical institutions and medical personnel have absolute priority for Porsche when it comes to providing protective clothing. As part of the “Porsche helps” initiative, the company is organising equipment and has also donated money to hospitals as well as food to food banks. The budget for donations has been increased by five million euros.
“It will take a great deal of effort to get the economic and social system moving again. Everyone must make a contribution to this,” says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. “It is important to have a positive fundamental attitude. Every crisis also offers opportunities and we want to make the most of them.”
The company initially stopped production in its two factories on 21st of March 2020 for an initial period of two weeks and announced that it would continuously reassess the situation. Due to bottlenecks in the global supply chain, the factories have remained closed for a total of six weeks.
In addition to suspending production, Porsche also decided to implement a number of other strict measures. These will remain in force until further notice to relieve the burden on the infrastructure at the sites. The significantly increased level of working remotely, in business areas that are not directly linked to the production of vehicles, will continue. Meetings are conducted via video or telephone conference, while the ban on business travel remains in place.
