Today was our last of our company visits and definitely the most impressive out of everywhere we have visited on the trip. When we first arrived to their headquarters in Ingolstadt, their headquarters immediately differed from the other companies we had seen. The size of the place was incredible and looked so well thought out and planned where every building was place, including a train track that ran through the middle of the headquarters to easily transport cars.
When we got into the building, my group was first to take a tour of the factory where many different types of Audi cars are produced. This includes ICEs and hybrids, but no electric. However, by the end of the year they plan on rolling out an electric vehicle to be produced there. In fact, by 2026, they plan to only being producing electric cars.
The first thing we saw when we got into the factory was their press shop where robots would press huge sheets of metal into the certain shape they wanted. This was crazy to see how powerful the machines were. In fact, we we able to feel the vibrations of the metal press from across their headquarters later in the day.
After the press shop, we headed over to the assembly line of the vehicles, starting from the beginning of buildings the frame, to the end of the line where they turn on the engines for the first time. Almost everything in the factory was fully autonomous, even little carts that would carry supplies and parts around. This was so awesome to see and experience and truly see what the future of car manufacturing is like. Being fully autonomous, cars are made much quicker and there is much less error. This optimizes both time and resources because there is little to no waste.
Once we finished up with the factory tour, we headed over to the Audi museum. At the museum, you start at the top which showcases many different vehicles from when Audi was first founded. And as you go down the levels of the museum, the vehicles get newer and newer. This was probably my favorite part of the trip because I found it so interesting to see how far the automotive industry as come in the past 150 years. I could’ve spent the entire day in that museum, unfortunately we had to get going to grab lunch and make it on time for the Audi’s strategy presentation with us.
At the presentation, two members on the Audi team walked us through what Audi’s future looks like in the automotive industry. As you can probably guess, we spent most of the time talking about electric vehicles and how Audi is pushing hard to go fully electric within the next few years. It seems like they are super prepared for this and have the necessary tools and resources to make this tough transition in such a quickly changing industry.
Finally, after the presentation, we headed back to our hotel and got some dinner. A few people and myself went and got Chinese food at a place down the street from our hotel. I got a beef and broccoli dish and it was delicious. All the food here has been so good thus far and I am disappointed that we only have a week left until the end of our trip.
Tomorrow we visit Munich which I cannot wait for!