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On April 17, Kaluga Region’s governor Anatoly Artamonov visited the VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus plant in Kaluga. The program of the visit included a tour of the new training center of the coatings workshop that was opened several days before. Creation of the center is yet another step on the path of development and training of the company’s personnel. Investments in the project have so far exceeded EUR 220,000.

“The funds spent can easily be considered investments in the future of the plant and the region, - says the plant director Andreas Klar. – Despite the complicated economic situation, our enterprise is not standing still, but continuing to invest funds in development and training. Such investments are crucial for us, as the quality of the cars we manufacture directly depends on the competence and professionalism of our employees”.

The new center has the most advanced equipment that meets the high standards of the Volkswagen concern and is the fourth training center at the company’s plant in Kaluga. The three other centers (body works, assembly, and production efficiency issues) were opened in 2009 and 2011.

One of the main goals of creating training centers at the plant is to bring the teaching process as close to production as possible.

The company is not limiting itself to in-production training. Thus, it is famous for its dual education efforts, realized in the joint project between VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus and the Kaluga Information Technologies and Management College. On September 1, 2010, 24 Russian students became the first to start “mechatronics” and “auto mechatronics” training at the college. Their teaching plans included disciplines introduced by Russian and German professional training standards.

About VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus

VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus consolidates Russian market operations of seven Volkswagen Concern brands — Volkswagen, ŠKODA, Audi, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, SEAT, Bentley and Lamborghini. In 2013, the company’s sales in Russia were nearly 300,000 cars, of which 188,000 were manufactured in Russia.

From November 2007, VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus manufactures cars in Kaluga, 170 km south-west of Moscow. In October 2009, Vladimir Putin and other top governmental officials visited the plant to participate in an official launch of full-cycle production. On June 14, 2011, VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus and GAZ Group signed an agreement on the assembly of Volkswagen and ŠKODA cars at the GAZ plant in Nizhny Novgorod. In accordance with the agreement, GAZ has implemented full-cycle production of ŠKODA Yeti, Volkswagen Jetta and ŠKODA Octavia cars.

With total investments of EUR 1.3 billion, the company is one of the biggest investors in the Russian automotive industry. Before the end of 2018, the concern plans to intend a further EUR 1.2 billion in Russia.

Kaluga Region Mentioned During the Direct Line with Vladimir Putin

On April 17, Channel 1, Russia 1 and Russia 24 TV channels, radio channels Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio Russia transmitted the special program Direct Line with Vladimir Putin.

In response to a question on whether the government intended to continue the practice of replacing old governors, the Russian President said that acting regional governors would only be replaced in case of discovery of violations in their work. He said that he believed the governor pool to be a very healthy and powerful group of people with a high degree of responsibility for their regions and very good results. Giving examples of successful regions, Vladimir Putin mentioned Kaluga Region, which “not having any natural resources, managed to achieve extraordinary results by internal regional product”.