SHANGHAI: Workers locked in Volkswagen AG’s Shanghai factory are getting movie nights and scheduled exercise to keep them entertained after production was idled by the city’s prolonged lockdown.
While at least several dozen employees initially volunteered to sleep at the plant to keep it running on a so-called closed loop system, those plans were eventually abandoned as the worsening Covid-19 outbreak saw the lockdown extended.
With no way to return home and the supply of required auto parts also disrupted, the workers are still on site.
To keep them occupied, the company has arranged group activities, starting with a walk around the factory at 10am, according to a screenshot of the schedule seen by Bloomberg News.
That’s followed by lunch and rest from 11am to 1pm, movie time and cards in the afternoon, and cardio training at 4pm.
The next two hours are taken up by dinner and showers, followed by movie night. The company has even organised voluntary garbage collecting. All staff are required to take a rapid Covid test each morning.
A spokesman for VW in China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Automakers have been hard hit by China’s stringent Covid-Zero policy.
Tesla Inc.’s Shanghai factory has been closed since March 28, and VW’s venture with FAW Group in Jilin province remains offline.
The lockdowns are estimated to cost automakers about 20% in lost production, Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of China’s Passenger Car Association, said earlier this week, noting not only manufacturers but also suppliers and dealers have been severely disrupted.
One key automotive parts maker and crucial supplier to VW, Robert Bosch GmbH said Monday it shuttered two of its factories in China and is operating a closed-loop systems at two others where workers live on-site and are tested regularly.
It added it was seeing "temporary effects on logistics and supply chain sourcing.”
Chip giant Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., though having been able to keep plants running under a similar system, is now facing a new headache of securing the trucks it will need to get its chips to clients.
