Volvo Cars gears up for mass hiring, production
Volvo Cars has
started producing prototypes of its new S60 sedan in Berkeley County, to
prepare for full production by the end of the year.
Those test cars will never make it to market; rather, they
help new hires learn how to make the vehicles ahead of having to produce them
in real time. The automaker remains on track to produce the first S.C.-built
S60 in the fourth quarter.
“We’re building some of our test, try-out cars now,” said
Stephanie Mangini, Volvo Car USA’s corporate communications manager in S.C.
“It’s a very small volume, but it’s an opportunity to teach our folks how to
build this car and make sure our equipment is doing what it needs to do.”
Volvo Cars’ new campus in Berkeley County is in the final
stages of construction, which includes installing and testing equipment. The
first S60 sedan is set to roll off the production line by the end of the year.
(Photo/Volvo Car US Operations)
The vehicles made in Berkeley County will be for North
American and overseas consumption.
The start of production will mark the Sweden-based,
Chinese-owned company’s foray into U.S.
car production. It also signifies the automaker working toward its promise
in May 2015 to build an automotive plant in South Carolina and hire more than
2,000 people to produce the vehicles.
The company announced plans in September to further expand
its S.C. operation — still more than a year ahead of the campus opening.
Volvo plans to make a second
vehicle at the site — the new XC90 SUV model — about three years after
the first S60 rolls off production lines, prompting the company to double its
workforce and investment by 2021, for a total of 4,000 employees and $1 billion
invested.
Volvo officials said the impetus to open the Lowcountry
plant was to boost demand from U.S. customers and to assume more market share
in years to come.
“The continued expansion of our plant in South Carolina is
another significant commitment to the U.S. market,” said Hakan Samuelsson,
Volvo Cars’ president and chief executive, in a statement. “The plant in
Charleston will serve both the U.S. and international markets and forms a
strong foundation for our future growth in the U.S. and globally.”
Campus updates
Volvo’s new site sits a few miles off Interstate 26 along
exit 187 near Ridgeville and Pringletown. The automotive campus’s mostly white
buildings, expansive parking lots and freshly paved roads sit in an open
stretch of land surrounded by woods. The operation covers about 1,600 acres
within the Camp Hall Commerce Park.
The body, paint, final assembly and office buildings are
nearly complete as construction heads into the home stretch. Remaining work on
the facilities and ongoing equipment installation continues. A new interchange
from Interstate 26 to the site is also under construction, set to open in 2019.
Volvo’s focus for the year is testing its equipment,
processes and workforce to ensure a smooth production start, Mangini said.
Volvo has already hired about 500 employees in production,
maintenance and office roles. The company needs to hire and train at least
1,000 more people this year, mostly for production, maintenance and technology
positions, which remain the hardest to fill.
“The challenge I think is really getting 1,000 people
trained, getting the workforce brought in and trained to build this car,”
Mangini said of the S60. “All hands are going to be on deck to ensure we have
the right talent in place and the right training processes in place to ensure
we can build this car.”
The automaker competes for workers with other automotive
suppliers, repair shops and manufacturers in the Lowcountry, including
Mercedes-Benz Vans, which is simultaneously ramping up for an
expansion of its van manufacturing operation in Ladson. Mercedes-Benz
plans to hire 1,300 people by 2020.
Employee training
The company sent a batch of new hires to facilities in
Sweden to train in Volvo’s longtime manufacturing facilities; those employees
will now help train other new hires in South Carolina.
New hires also receive training from ReadySC — a division of the S.C.
Technical College System that trains employees for companies — in the former
American LaFrance building in Jedburg and at ReadySC’s Sumter location. Those
classes will relocate in the spring when Volvo’s on-site training facility
opens.
The starting wage for Volvo production workers is $17 an
hour, and the hiring process can take up to three months. Applicants need a
high school diploma or GED equivalent, a WorkKeys certification and one year of
manufacturing experience.
Volvo worked with Berkeley County, Trident Technical College, the S.C. Department of Commerce and
other educators to create a lean manufacturing certificate for applicants
lacking manufacturing experience. Those applicants can take 62 hours of
coursework and earn a certificate instead, helping to fill the local workforce
pipeline.
The certificate is offered at Trident Technical College
and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.
“In this area, we recognized that not everyone will have
that manufacturing experience, so we got together ... and said, ‘What do we
need to do to make job opportunities more available for local residents?’”
Berkeley County paid for interested residents to take the
course, and around 150 people did so.
“We want to get everything lined up before we get into the
fourth quarter because that’s when we start building the S60s for
distribution,” Mangini said.
This story originally appeared in the March 5, 2018,
print edition of the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
Commentaires
Enregistrer un commentaire