Transparent Factory is the English name of an automobile production plant owned by German carmaker
VolkswagenVolkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
, designed by architect Gunter Henn, and opened in 2002. The original German name is
Gläserne Manufaktur (
factory made of glass, literally
vitreous manufactory). Both the German and English names are a
word playWord play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
on the double meaning of
transparent and
glassy, referring to both optical transparency and
transparency of the production processTransparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed...
.
The main purpose of the factory is the assembly of Volkswagen's luxury sedan, the Phaeton. Spare capacity was also used to construct
Bentley Continental Flying SpurThe Bentley Continental Flying Spur is a four-door variant of the Bentley Continental GT coupé. The Bentley Continental Flying Spur was introduced in 2005....
vehicles destined for the European market until 2006, when all work was transferred to
BentleyBentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
's plant in
CreweCrewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The Transparent Factory is situated in the city center of
DresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, the 800-year-old German
baroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
city known for its arts and craftsmanship. It stands at the former location of the convention center. The factory's walls are made almost completely of glass. Its floors are covered entirely in Canadian maple. Its visitor-friendly layout was designed to accommodate up to 250 tourists per day. There are no smokestacks, no loud noises, and no toxic byproducts. Volkswagen have planted 350 trees in the grounds.
The transparent factory handles final assembly only. Operations such as stamping and welding and the painting of the steel bodies take place in
ZwickauZwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
. Painted bodies arrive at the factory by truck. The other 1200 parts and 34 preassembled components are shipped to a remote logistics center and are transferred from there to the factory via
CarGoTramThe CarGoTram is a freight tram in Dresden. It supplies Volkswagen's "Transparent Factory" with parts for their automobile production.- History :The idea of building a "transparent factory" for Volkswagen automobile production in Dresden arose in 1997...
s that run on Dresden's public transport tracks.
The German TV channel
ZDFZweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
occasionally produces a philosophical panel discussion in the Transparent Factory, "Das philosophische Quartett" (The Philosophical Quartet).
External links