Skoda.

We got to tour through Skoda's Production plant which make up 5 models of cars that they produce mainly the Fabic and the Octavia. They produce about 2,200 cars/ day with 25,000 employees, 19,000 of those at their main plant. This makes up about 3 sq kilometers of work space. VW bought out Skoda back in 1991 once again when the Czech Republic broke away from communism. in 2009 Skoda had a record breaking 684,226 cars sold. Skoda originally started out as a bicycle company and eventually began making luxury vehicles. They currently have 2,000 suppliers with 90% of their product being exports to various countries within Europe. They do not plan to expand to the U.S. because the market is too mature and they wouldn't be able to break in. The workers for Skoda have amazing benefits with 5 weeks of paid vacation every year. They recently jut bulit a 4,5 million Euro plant for the engines of the vehicles that has allowed them to expand so much with their product. They have an interesting system of getting cars to their consumers by the on demand process. twenty years before it would take people six years to get a car while now they can receive a car in six weeks brand new shipped to the dealership custom made. six weeks may seem like a long time but when the precedent before was six years this time frame does not seem long at all. Also there is no waste in over stocking in cars for the producer. Skoda also makes high performance racing vehicles which we actually got to see in the museum. We also got to go to the various factories and witness first hand how every car is made through out the main processes. I wasn't allowed to take pictures because they didn't want to give away their trade secrets.