Volkswagen AG will invest up to €4 billion in digitalization projects through 2023 – mainly in administration but also in production.

These projects include IT solutions such as SAP 4/Hana, in particular for administrative applications, a highly-efficient purchasing system and new standard human resources applications.

At least 2,000 new jobs related to digitalization are to be created. This has been agreed by the Board of Management and the General Works Council in their “digital transformation roadmap”.

Agile working methods, improved processes and digitalization are to reduce the burden on employees and speed up processes. Tasks that used to be performed manually are to be simplified through improved IT. Consequently, up to 4,000 jobs in non-production units at Volkswagen AG Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Components and Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH will not be restaffed over the coming four years. A precondition for this is that tasks are eliminated as a result of digitalization, process optimization and organizational streamlining. In addition, further investments in Industry 4.0 and an associated increase in productivity of five percent per year in production units through 2023 were also agreed.

Furthermore, the budget for training is to be increased by a further €60 million to a total of €160 million to take account of the human resources transformation under Volkswagen’s digitalization offensive. A uniform employment guarantee for Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH through 2029 has also been agreed.