It would seem that we can continue to stamp the first-generation bestseller - we are not used to long-lived models, but it was decided to move to Focus II after Europe.
The plant near St. Petersburg is not self-sufficient, like most domestic enterprises, but is closely integrated into the European production of Focus. Here, as in Spanish Valencia or German Saarlouis, through the centralized warehouses of many suppliers send thousands of items, assemblies and assemblies. Expanding the range of parts almost twice for the production of several tens of thousands of previous-generation machines in Russia with a European volume of 450 thousand is simply unprofitable. And spare parts, you ask? But this is a separate production with relatively small volumes.
Since the cost of production decreases with an increase in production, not least due to the half-million total circulation, Focus II is sold in Russia at such an attractive price. But that’s not all, optimization of production in Vsevolozhsk will allow to halve labor costs in comparison with 40 people / h for the assembly of the first Focus. After all, you need to pay back $ 150 million for the construction of the plant, $ 50 million for refitting and $ 30 million for investments until mid-2006. The general plan for this year is 40 thousand cars, and in January 2006 it is planned to reach a capacity of 60 thousand per year.
And after all, everyone will buy them - here they are, dividends from investments in image. Orders for a completely modern car, only recently appeared in Europe, take already six months ahead! However, the matter is not only in fashion, but also in the solid foundation of success laid down by the first Focus, the loyalty of its owners is 52.8%, 35.2% have not decided on the choice of the next car and only 12% are ready to change the model.
The plant in Vsevolozhsk is small - 26 hectares of total territory, 45 thousand m2 of production space and 1570 people. There are about 25 annual machines per employee, and with full capacity, even taking into account an additional set of three hundred people, the figure will increase to 31. For comparison, it is 6–8 cars on domestic auto giants, and 40–45 in Europe, in Japan - up to 60.
That's right: the higher the standard of living and salary, the more profitable it is for people to replace with automatic weapons. In the meantime, the worker of primary qualification C1 receives about 16 thousand rubles a month and, as he studies and passes exams, he can count on an increase of 25% at each new level of the tariff scale up to C4. It is more convenient for engineers and technicians to calculate the salary in foreign currency - $ 2.5–3.5 thousand.
Now the production works five days a week in three shifts, sometimes grabbing Saturday too. Quality control fixes only one defect in two thousand assembled cars, screening components for input control is $ 14 per car.
