Volkswagen group manages to source vital parts weeks ahead of initial schedule
Palmela’s Autoeuropa car plant has resumed production today after a stoppage that began on September 11, and threatened to continue into November.
The Volkswagen Group whose business in Portugal accounts for 1.5% of GDP always said it would make every effort to source vital parts, unavailable due to flood damage to a supplier in Slovenia – and this clearly paid off. New suppliers were found in Spain and China, thus allowing the factory to return to business, albeit with fewer shifts than usual.
The stoppage nonetheless affected dozens of Portuguese suppliers, including several companies based in the Autoeuropa Industrial Park, which announced the dismissal of 325 workers working under what Lusa terms ‘precarious contracts’.
Autoeuropa itself also announced the dismissal of 100 temporary workers but guaranteed they would be recalled when production was back to normal.
Source: Lusa
