From lockdown to antigen testing on the line

21st April 2021

In this year of combating Covid-19, SEAT – a member of the Volkswagen Group and the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain – has implemented 107 preventive measures.

A year ago, Covid-19 emptied the streets around the world. The pandemic forced total lockdown. SEAT reacted immediately and within a week adapted the assembly line of the new Leon to manufacture emergency respirators to help hospitals.

Today, the same production line, working at full capacity, is being used by the company’s Care and Rehabilitation Centre (CARS) medical staff to perform antigen tests on the workers.

50 SEAT CARS teams visit the production workshops seven days a week, morning, noon and night. They move their way down the line with a mobile antigen testing unit, just a few metres away from the workers. In this way, the 8 300 operators hardly have to interrupt their work to take the test.

“These rapid tests on the line enable us, without interrupting production, to make a very early diagnosis and, in the event of a positive result, to cut off the chain of transmission from the very first moment,” says Dr Patricia Such, head of health, safety and emergencies at SEAT.

SEAT was also the first company in Spain to carry out PCR tests on its more than 15 000 employees en masse. Since then, it has carried out more than 55 000 tests. “There is no prevention service in the world that was prepared for this pandemic, but we’ve been adapting day by day since the beginning with the health of our workers as our number one priority,” adds Such.

SEAT has not only been a pioneer in the fight against the pandemic within the company. Its response to society was immediate. It arrived in the form of emergency respirators for ICUs all over Spain three weeks after the declaration of the state of emergency. Against the clock, a team from different areas of SEAT was able to come up with the most ingenious ideas to manufacture them, using parts such as windscreen wiper motors. “The key to success was teamwork, perseverance and the desire we had to help,” recalls Such.

SEAT has also reached an agreement with the government of Catalonia for the company to help with public health and the vaccination process of the population in its region, once the availability of vaccines increases. “We need to intervene quickly to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible,” says Such. “We’ll do everything we can. Beating the virus is up to everyone.”

By testing systematically, the possibility of infection inside SEAT is practically non-existent. In fact, with this and another 106 preventive measures, SEAT has achieved a positivity rate much lower than the average in its surroundings. This March it stood at 0,1%.