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Power Failure Interupts Production at VW
Sunday 12 April 2015
Author: Russell Group
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The consequences were far-reaching according to local German reports as, in the Wolfsburg factory itself, a special production line that ran over the weekend came to an abrupt halt.


Further chaos was caused to a nearby area to the East of the factory with about 50,000 households going without electricity, the police said. Meanwhile, websites of the world's second largest car manufacturer - from the U.S. to Germany all the way to Australia - were taken offline. The glitch also affected global e-mail traffic for VW executives. After about five hours of downtime, online sites were accessible again and emails arrived.

It is reported that, at one stage, there were fears that a Bundesliga soccer match between the VW plant club VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich would need to be abandoned but the game did eventually go ahead. The main physical disruption was caused to production of the compact sedan Golf which was then forced to run an extra shift because of buoyant demand on Saturday.

A VW spokesperson was unable to comment over the weekend on the possible financial losses caused by the disruption. In Wolfsburg, VW builds the Golf, Tiguan and Touran. It is produced from Monday to Friday. If the belts run at weekends, then there are extra shifts for peak periods. The VW plant in Wolfsburg on the Mittelland Canal is considered the largest contiguous car factory in the world.

The disruption caused to VW demonstrates the inter-connectedness and complexity of modern manufacturing. One local disruption can have both local and global consequences encompassing both physical and intangible risks. The news about VW over the weekend neatly encapsulates this modern risk phenomenon.