With Italy being one of the worst hit countries by COVID-19, supercar manufacturer Lamborghini has decided to shift production towards surgical masks and protective plexiglass shields. The masks that are made in the Sant’Agata Bolognese factory will be donated to the Sant’Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna.
It will be ‘saddlery’ personnel at the plant that create the masks. Presumably, these are the workers who work on Lamborghini upholstery on regular work days. Lamborghini will produce 1000 masks and 200 medical shields every day, though the latter will have to be produced with 3D printers in the R&D department.
About the Lamborghini Factory
Automobili Lamborghini’s ongoing strategic investment programme, aligned with the launch of its new Super SUV the Urus, sees its production site now doubled with the creation of substantial new facilities and technologies at its factory headquarters in Sant’ Agata Bolognese, Italy.
As well as expanding the site from 80,000 to 160,000 m2, the Urus will also bring about a substantial increase in the company’s production capacity, doubling it to 7,000 units a year.
The new production facility houses a new assembly line dedicated to Urus, the new finishing department for all Lamborghini models, and a new office building with LEED Platinum certification: the highest standard in the world for energy and environmental certification in building design and construction. A new test track has also been built with thirteen different surfaces specific to SUVs, as well as a new logistics warehouse, a second trigeneration power plant, and the new energy hub for centralized production of all the energy carriers.
The factory expansion was completed in a record time of just 18 months, during which the company operated at full production capacity and achieved record sales in 2016 (+7% over the previous year). The project was achieved without neglecting Lamborghini’s commitment to environmental sustainability: the entire production facility in Sant’Agata Bolognese maintains the carbon neutral certification obtained in 2015.
The new Industry 4.0 assembly line, dedicated entirely to the Urus Super SUV, integrates new production technologies to support workers in assembly activities.
The super sports car maker expresses this approach as Manifattura Lamborghini, which is characterized by four basic principles:
- Craftsmanship: preserving and optimizing craftsmanship with the integration of innovative technologies, increasing the potential for product customization on one hand, and guaranteeing the highest quality standards on the other.
- Competencies and specialization: digitalization enables workers, via touchscreen devices, to access production information made available by easily-consulted interconnected systems.
- Production process: AGVs (Automatic Guided Vehicles) are used as vehicle and material transport systems. Thanks to this system, the flexibility of the building layout is maintained.
- Ergonomics and safety: collaborative robots assist the workers, to improve ergonomics and for repetitive operations that require high quality, such as window gluing, under-body screwing, and wheel assembly.
PRESS RELEASE
Automobili Lamborghini is converting departments of its super sports car production plant in Sant’Agata Bolognese in order to produce surgical masks and protective plexiglass shields. The masks will be donated to the Sant’Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna to be used in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Work on this solidarity initiative will be carried out by personnel of the saddlery that produce the interiors and specialty customization for Lamborghini cars, producing 1,000 masks a day. The medical shields will be realized in 200 units a day, using 3D printers within the carbon fiber production plant and the Research and Development department.
The activity has been approved and supported by the Emilia-Romagna Region, and is taking place in collaboration with the University of Bologna. The Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences will oversee validation testing of the medical devices made by Lamborghini, prior to their delivery to hospital.
As a sign of unity and support for the entire nation facing the Coronavirus emergency, every evening Lamborghini lights up the historic headquarter buildings in Sant’Agata Bolognese, with the colors of the Italian flag.
