Ukrainian Skoda suppliers: With “duplication” against lack of material

The war in Ukraine means that the supply chains of car production are even more disrupted than before. An important Skoda supplier with its main plant in Lviv is now building a second production facility in the Czech Republic.

Svitlana Kavalchuk has been working in the workshop in Mlada Boleslav since the end of March. She hesitated for a long time whether she should accept her employer’s offer and go to the Czech Republic. “I couldn’t make up my mind for a long time,” says the 45-year-old. “But the day before the planned departure, a bomb fell near my apartment, and that was the decisive point in saying: I’m going to the Czech Republic.”

Her two sons are over 19 and had to stay in Ukraine. Until a few weeks ago, Svitlana Kavalchuk’s workplace was still in the main plant of PEKM Kabeltechnik in Lviv, Ukraine. Because of the uncertain situation, the company management then decided to open a second production site in the Czech Republic – at the Skoda headquarters in Mlada Boleslav, which is as important for the manufacturer as Wolfsburg is for the parent company VW. Duplication is the new strategy. Any employee who wanted to could go along.

Wiring harnesses for several models are made by hand

“We made the offer in the first half of March and the employees were here at the end of March. So everything happened very quickly,” says Jan Chabera, Managing Director of PEKM. 35 employees reported, mostly women without major family obligations.

The company has rented eight apartments for the workers. Svitlana is satisfied with the accommodation. The fact that they came here as a group makes life abroad a little easier. “We all know each other from the factory in Ukraine, at least by sight,” she says. “But I also have my best friend with me. We’ve known each other for 20 years. That helps a lot to deal with the situation better.”

In the still half-empty factory building, bought by Skoda and rented to the supplier PEKM, they now assemble cable harnesses for several Skoda vehicle models. Differently colored cables are laid on top of each other according to the given scheme and then connected with insulating tape. This is manual work that requires a lot of patience and precision. “Normally we produced 30,000 to 40,000 wire harnesses a day in Ukraine. Now, in the Czech Republic, we’re talking about 800, 900 a day,” says Managing Director Chabera.

Problems with chips and switches too

It’s just the beginning. By the end of August, production should have ramped up to such an extent that the entire hall can be used. With the cable harnesses “made in Mlada Boleslav”, Skoda can at least partially resolve one of several bottlenecks in its components. Missing components and how to get at them have long been part of everyday life for Karsten Schnake, who is responsible for material procurement on the Skoda board. “You have to say that the Ukraine war tops everything we’ve all experienced together in the last two or two and a half years,” says the manager.

The corona pandemic has disrupted manufacturing processes and supply chains; the consequences are still not fully dealt with. In the first quarter, Skoda sold a quarter fewer cars than in the previous quarter. And now the war in the Ukraine, which presents Karsten Schnake with constant challenges – not only because of the supply of cable harnesses. Switch production in the Ukraine is also an issue, says the Skoda board. “Then the rising costs for energy and also for raw materials. And the third point: We still have a lot of disruptions in the area of ​​semiconductor supply.”

Thinking of the families

The big question at the moment is how all this will ultimately affect the prices for the vehicles. But something else is important to the car manager Schnake: “At the end of the day, everything that happened is a human issue. We live in a network of people. They want a future and security. That is often hidden , but that’s really the only important thing.”

Svitlana Kavalchuk says she really can’t stop thinking about her families for a moment. “And the situation we got into. So even while we’re at work, we’re thinking of them.” It was completely clear to her that after the war she would go back home. The big and very stressful question is when that will be.