Our hosts have lined up a very cool activity for us on Friday before
the Invasion: a visit/tour of the Volkswagen Academy in
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The VW Factory/Academy is approximately 75 miles from host hotel (see map
below). We will be leaving in a caravan from the hotel at 8:00am
for those that choose to participate. Of course you can just meet
us at the VW Factory/Academy at 9:30 if you don't want to caravan or haven't
made it to the host hotel yet on Friday morning.
The route is fairly leisurely until you get to I-24 and I-75 in
Chattanooga. There is the usual morning city traffic. If we
get separated during the cruise that would not be a problem because the
location is easy to get to—US 72 (in front on hotel) to I-24 east (In
Tennessee) to I-75 north (In Chattanooga). The factory is on
Volkswagen Drive off Exit 9 on I-75. It is hard to miss.
Schedule: (Note: Scottsboro is on the Central Time Zone and the VW Factory is in the Eastern Time Zone)
7:00am CDT Leave Host Hotel
9:30 am EDT at VW Factory/Academy conference center (Type 3s will get to park in the Conference Center Atrium)
10:00 am to Noon EDT Begins Tours Volkswagen Academy & Museum
Noon to 1 pm EDT Lunch on site (Box lunh provided for those that pre-order at $10 each)
1:00 pm EDT Tour Volkswagen Academy continue
2:00pm EDT or so Caravan back to host hotel
Here are the details from our hosts:
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We had originally planned to tour the VW Factory itself. Hover
the VW factory has notified me that upper management at the factory has
suspended factory tours for the foreseeable future. Volkswagen
has a new model coming out which is built at this factory, and they are
not ready for the public to see it. It is not unusual for the
factory to be closed for
public tours. These tours are sometimes suspended for months at a time.
I am sure many of you are disappointed at this development, but it will
work to our advantage. This will give us more time to tour the VW
Academy at the factory, and we will be able to tour this facility at a
more leisurely pace. I had the pleasure of viewing the VW Academy
back in February. This is a large and impressive facility with
much to see. The staff plans to divide the Invaders into small
groups and give each group a tour of the facilities. The factory
trains both factory line workers and dealership technicians in all
aspects of vehicle production or maintenance. This will be a
hands-on guided tour of all the work stations installed throughout the
building which include assembly line robotics, 3D printers, and welding
to name a few. There are also a number of vintage Volkswagens on
display throughout the academy.
I visited the Volkswagen Factory yesterday and spoke at length with
the Technical Training Supervisor of the VW Academy. He gave me a
one on one tour of the Academy and we came up with the tentative
schedule above. The facility is community oriented and they are
enthusiastic about our desire to visit the premise. The academy
trains people in every aspect of all skills associated with the
manufacture of their vehicles in an apprentice program for people who
desire to work in their facility. There is a machine present for
every conceivable manufacturing operation. There is even a county
high school on the premise that integrates some of VW classes into the
students’ curriculum. It is an impressive facility.
Everything is neat and clean. It looks like what you would expect
from a German run facility. They have a dozen or more VWs parked
throughout the academy ranging from the 1942 Beetle up to the first
Passat and the new Atlas which are manufactured at this factory.
There will also be a Type 3 and a 21 or 23 window bus added to the mix
by the time we visit. Here are some of the details regarding our
activities:
Parking: This is a huge facility and parking is at a
premium. Every employee parks in front of the academy and
conference center buildings. I arrived at 9:30 and had to walk at
least a ¼ mile to the conference center. This will not be a
problem during our visit. The conference center has a two story
air conditioned atrium. I was amazed to learn that they want us
to park all of our cars in the atrium.
Tour of Academy: We will be broken into groups and we will have a
walking tour led by an employee. The machinery will be
operational and we will be able to have some hands on interaction with
it. I was particularly impressed with an assembly line
robot. They also have a mini assembly line set up for training
employees before they go to the real thing.
Lunch: We will eat lunch in the conference center. Marion
and Peg will take care of obtaining the lunch food. We will
plan to get a headcount just before we depart for the VW factory and
they will get the food and bring it to the location shortly before
noon. It will probably be something like Subway sandwiches,
chips, a dessert item, and a soft drink or water. They will
collect money for lunch at whatever their cost is. Of course, it
is also acceptable for attendees to bring their own lunch food.
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So....a few details still be worked out, but this should be a very memorable part of the 2018 Invasion. Stay tuned...
Please let me know if you have any questions.