Day 5:
Today was Audi, the visit that convinced me to apply for Plus3 Germany in the first place. The day started out early as the bus was leaving for Ingolstadt at 7:15am. I unfortunately missed breakfast because I mistakenly set my alarm for 6:45am instead of 5:45am, so I had to spend that time getting ready to leave instead of eating. We boarded the bus right away and started the trip to Audi, for which I slept on and off most of the way.
From when we arrived at Audi to when we left, I was like a kid in a candy shop. We parked right in front of the museum and visitor center, which is adjacent to the plaza where Audi customers will pick up their ordered cars. Because of this, the plaza is always full of the newest Audi vehicles. These were the first cars we saw upon arriving, and I was completely enthralled when we spotted an Audi RS3 in the lot, the first of many we would see that day. From there we went into the visitor center, where there were four car models that we were able to sit in and explore. The most popular of the four was a new Audi TT S-Line, which is the base model with the performance appearance package. I have always loved to be able to just explore cars on showroom floors, so I was right at home there.
After a short period in the showroom there, we were asked to leave our phones and other personal belongings in lockers before entering an informational session about the Ingolstadt factory and headquarters as well as some safety information pertaining to our factory tour.
Right after that, the group followed our guide upstairs and into the factory. My initial impression of the factory itself was that it was giant. The factory extended forever in either direction and was filled up with different sections of the assembly line. What we saw first was the initial production process where the body components were being welded together. We saw the assembly line for the A3 and the Q2 (the Q2 is not currently sold in the United States). The robots that were taking the components and placing them in and on the line were amazing and giant. When they were still, they looked like dinosaurs that you would see at a natural history museum. Once the components were large enough, they themselves would be welded together, and once there were enough components they started to resemble the body of the car.
Once the main body was starting to be formed, it was transported throughout the plant on large metal plates that workers were able to walk on and attend to the vehicles if necessary. In the body shop, there was only one portion of the process that involved workers, and that was the installation of the doors, hood, and trunk. Every other process was done by those enormous robots. Throughout the robotic process, the body was being transported all over the plant. There were elevators that would take the cars up through the ceiling, back down through the ceiling, and flip the vehicle over for underside components, all while the car was passing through checkpoints to ensure that the fit of all of the pieces was within the threshold, which in this case was only a fraction of a millimeter. On the A3 in particular, you were able to see which components were aluminum and which were steel during these stages. For example, both the B-pillar and the base of the vehicle surrounding the driveshaft were steel, while most everything else was made out of aluminum to save weight.
At the portion of the body assembly line that contained the workers, there was no more flipping around or elevators, but instead there was a long row of cars being worked on in different stages that was slowing moving down the row. It was the stereotypical car assembly line at this point, and once the doors were installed and the cars passed the inspection, they were sent off to be painted. Unfortunately, we were unable to see that portion of the process, but we picked up right after they were freshly painted and ready for interior installation.
At this stage, we were able to see the A4 and A5 assembly lines, which meant that we saw all four models that are produced at the Ingolstadt location (Q2, A3, A4, A5). These assembly lines for the interior installation also looked a lot more like what you would think of when looking at automotive production. The bodies of the cars were on large, slow moving platforms that allowed workers to install the necessary components on the vehicles. Each component (seats, dashboard, windows, wiring, etc.) corresponded to a different section along the assembly line, and each section was designed to take 120 seconds to complete before moving on to the next section. It was cool to be able to see workers installing these parts on to the different vehicles as we saw the final car begin to take shape.
Following the interior section, the cars were lifted onto the ceiling where they were attached to rails that allowed different components to be installed to the underside of the vehicles. These rails travelled all over the ceilings, with cars packed end to end the entire way. This was also the portion where the chassis and powertrain was attached to the body. It was fascinating to watch the car bodies pull up over the top of a complete powertrain assembly (engine, transmission, brakes, exhaust, etc.), watch the powertrain get lifted up into the underside of the vehicle, and watch it all get bolted together.
From there all that was left was for the wheels to be bolted on, and for the cars to be driven out of the factory. Conveniently, there was a giant section of railroad tracks running directly through the center of the Audi campus, enabling them to set the cars directly onto the train after production and testing, allowing them to be shipped anywhere they needed to go right from the factory.
In addition to everything about the tour, one of my favorite parts was being able to spot the occasional S or RS model within the assembly line. I was able to see a few a few S3’s, RS4’s and RS5’s, but the most memorable was a red RS5 that we were able to see directly before the powertrain was mounted to the body. That way we saw both the body of the RS5 and have a complete view of what goes underneath it. We were able to see the big twin-turbocharged engine, the giant disc brakes and bright red calipers, and the huge exhausts. There was a huge difference when you looked at the powertrain of a base A5 and an RS5.
This video from 8:10-14:40 was a pretty good representation of what we saw:
One additional thing that really impressed me about the factory was the logistics that went into planning the coordination of every system throughout the factory. At each point in the assembly line, parts were being delivered seconds before they were put onto the vehicles. What made this so impressive to me was that not only was there different specs of models on the same assembly line, there were entirely different models on the same assembly line. At one point in the tour, there was an A4 Avant with the front and rear windows being attached, where the windows came up through the floor moments before the workers grabbed them and attached them. Immediately after the A4, there was an A5, and instead of an A4 windshield appearing from the floor, there was an A5 windshield. This happened at every point throughout the production process, even with the powertrain. The RS5 we saw was in between a normal A5 and an A4 Avant, meaning that the chassis order had to be coordinated with the order of the cars coming through the assembly line. I was just amazed at the complexity and efficiency of the entire operation of the factory there.
The tour lasted about 2 hours, after which we had about an hour and a half or so to visit the Audi museum. I probably took about a thousand photos, but here are some of the highlights:
The museum was so amazing, but even more amazing was being able to sit in the cars in another showroom across the plaza from the museum. In the showroom was an Audi R8 V10, a car that costs more than $200,000. The most amazing part was that it was unlocked, and I was able to sit in it. Being able to sit in a car that costs as much as a house is not an experience you get to have very often, and it was awesome to have to opportunity.
After exploring the campus a little more, we were taken into a conference room where we were given a very in depth presentation and learned about what Audi believes the future of the automotive industry is, that being electric and autonomous. I found this presentation to be extremely interesting and informative, finishing the tour on a high note.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, an RS6 Avant (one of my absolute favorite cars) and an R8 V10 were pulling out of the parking lot, and I was able to hear and see them pull away down the street. Following that experience, we boarded the bus back home for the hour and a half ride back to Augsburg.
Upon arriving back in Augsburg, a group of us went back out to Döner, and grabbed sandwiches. Along the way, we saw another RS3, a new BMW 8 Series, an RS6, and a brand new Mercedes AMG GT.
Takeaway of the day:
German services and stores close much earlier than stores in the US. We found this out the hard way when we went to get ice cream after going to Döner at only 7:00pm, and the ice cream shop was closed. Fortunately, we didn’t let this ruin the amazing day we had, and we headed back to work on our blogs and get ready for Faurecia tomorrow.
Car of the day:
The Audi R18 that was pictured above. That car was so amazing to see in person. I was able to look around and see all the little openings and air ducts that pictures don’t do justice. I had never seen a car like that up close before, so it was quite the experience.
Runner up: 2019 Audi E-Tron
The Audi E-Tron was just released in Europe and will be released very soon in the United States. It doesn’t look super out of the ordinary, but this is probably Audi’s most important car in production right now. It is their first entry in the the fully-electric market, and marks the starting point to Audi’s commitment to eventually go completely electric. One really interesting thing on this car that you can see really well in the first picture and won’t be seeing on any of the American models are the side mirrors, being that there are none. There was recently a law passed here enabling automakers to forgo side mirrors in favor of cameras, which are what you see in sticking out the side of the E-Tron where the mirrors should be. The US has not yet passed any such law, and as a result we will be getting the standard side view mirrors.