Audi celebrates new facility dedicated to building the next gen R8
Audi recently celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony at site of their all-new production facility and logistics hall for the next generation R8 sports car at Böllinger Höfe in Germany.
Not much was revealed about the new R8, but the new plant is strictly dedicated to providing all of the resources to build the new generation.
There, the body manufacturing, assembly and logistics will kick off at the new plant in mid-2014, which most likely means production for the new R8 will commence shortly thereafter.
The Böllinger Höfe center is part of Audi’s Neckarsulm site, one of Volkswagen AG’s most diverse and complex industrial parks in Europe.
For full details, check out the press release after the jump.
Audi celebrates topping-out ceremony at Böllinger Höfe
- New Audi production facility is largest construction project in Heilbronn region
- Commissioning of logistics hall in early 2014
- Mid-2014: Start of production at new R8 manufacturing facility
A current view of the construction site: A logistics hall and new production facilities for the R8 are being erected at the new Audi facility at Böllinger Höfe.Some 18 months after the start of construction, Audi’s Neckarsulm plant is celebrating the topping-out ceremony at its new production facility at Böllinger Höfe. A logistics hall and new production facilities for the Audi R8 covering an area of 23 hectares are being erected at Böllinger Höfe. The supercar will begin rolling off the assembly line in mid-2014.
Plant Manager Fred Schulze, Managing Director of quattro GmbH Franciscus van Meel and Dieter Braun, Head of Plant Logistics at the Neckarsulm site, will welcome approximately 200 guests to the topping-out ceremony for the new Audi production facility. With an area of 23 hectares, the new facility comprises roughly one quarter of the entire Audi site in Neckarsulm. It is also the largest construction project in the Heilbronn region at the moment. “The new production facility is a key element for the future viability and competitiveness of the Audi site,” said Schulze. “The construction project provides the space necessary for high-volume production in Neckarsulm.”
Body Manufacturing, Logistics and Assembly for the Audi R8 will move to the new Audi facility as of mid-2014. “All of our manufacturing expertise for the R8 will then be completely consolidated under one roof,” said van Meel. “This will enable us to optimize our production process and further expand our small-scale production expertise at the Neckarsulm site.” Some 250 employees who are already part of the Audi team will move to a new workplace at Böllinger Höfe.
In addition to the R8 production facilities, construction also includes a 325-meter-long, 115-meter-wide logistics center scheduled to begin operation in early 2014. It covers a surface roughly equivalent to five soccer fields. “This building is our response to the increasing product complexity at the site,” said Braun. “Beginning in 2014, we will handle roughly 5,000 containers for production at the Neckarsulm plant.” With the construction of the new hall, the brand with the four rings is implementing a variety of measures to conserve resources. For example, Audi will collect rain water for reuse and selected areas will be heated using solar energy.
Audi Neckarsulm is already one of the sites with the greatest product diversity in the Group and is the most complex plant in Europe. The investment in the Böllinger Höfe industrial park is an element of Audi’s Growth Strategy 2020.
