Volkswagen South Africa increases vehicle production automation with virtualized PRIMERGY rack servers

"The data centre allows us to address market demands without additional investment. Vehicle manufacturing automation has increased significantly allowing for a modernised and responsive manufacturing process."

Antonio Raposo CIO, Information Services, Volkswagen Group South Africa

Volkswagen South Africa replaced +300 physical servers with 14 virtualised FUJITSU Server PRIMERGY for lower costs and improved performance.

Customer

Founded in 1937 and renowned for its iconic VW Beetle, Volkswagen (VW) is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer with annual revenues of USD$245bn. Its South African subsidiary VW SA is based in Uitenhage, and employs 3,800 people across the country. In South Africa alone, VW produces around 120,000 cars, 65 per cent of which are for the export market.

Challenge

Volkswagen South Africa wanted to replace more than 300 legacy data centre servers with a modern, virtualised and consolidated solution in order to fully exploit the opportunities offered by ‘Industry 4.0’ and the Internet of Things.

Solution

By leveraging the existing global relationship in place with Fujitsu, it was able to deploy a cost effective, high-performing new data centre, consisting of 14 FUJITSU Server PRIMERGY RX2530, each hosting an average of 25 virtual machines and supporting over 100 business critical applications.

Benefit

Reduction in annual operating costs
Capacity has increased by 35 per cent, processing power has leaped 150 per cent, so VW SA can quickly scale and roll out new products and services
Vehicle body production automation has increased to 70 per cent, making the manufacturing process significantly more agile
Total visibility of business intelligence, enabling smarter business decisions