Rudolf Leiding
| Rudolf Leiding | |
|---|---|
Rudolf Leiding
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| Born |
September 4, 1914 Altmark, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany |
| Died | September 3, 2003 (aged 88) Baunatal, Hesse, Germany |
| Known for | Volkswagen Golf |
Dr. Ing. h.c. Rudolf Leiding (4 September 1914 – 3 September 2003) was the third post-war chairman of the Volkswagen automobile company (Volkswagenwerk AG), succeeding Kurt Lotz in 1971.
Leiding began his career with Volkswagen at Wolfsburg in 1945 where he was responsible for the repair of army vehicles. Professor Nordhoff then charged him with setting up the first postwar Wolsburg assembly line, using such parts as he could find. Leiding's ingenuity at this task led to promotion, and Leiding found himself sent to the United States to organize the first VW service network there. Between 1958 and 1965 he was the first director of the VW works in Kassel. Subsequently he transferred to Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt where he became chairman of the board, presiding during the company's development of the successful Audi 100.
Leiding arrived at the top Volkswagen job with a reputation as a successful trouble-shooter. When Volkswagen under Nordoff acquired Auto Union/Audi, Leiding was sent to "sort out" morale and discipline, as general manager at the Ingolstadt plant. During his first week he took to standing at the plant entrance each day at 7 am in order to check on late arrivals for the morning shift, a technique he subsequently employed at other plants. Finding a compound filled with 28,000 unsold, unused and increasingly obsolete cars, he sent office staff onto the street to "get rid of them at any cost". Many friends and relations of Ingolstadt-based Audi employees acquired bargain unused cars as a result of the exercise. Demand for the Ingolstadt plant's output did not justify a night shift at this time, and Leiding took to walking through the plant at night in the company of a photographer. The next day departmental heads responsible for areas where examples of inefficiency or waste had been identified would receive photographs of the deficient work stations, with no comment beyond the signature of the general manager. It was reported that during his first year at Ingolstadt Leiding reduced production costs by 34%.
In July 1968, Leiding left Ingolstadt to take on the chairmanship of Volkswagen of Brazil. His time in Sao Paulo saw the development of the Volkswagen SP2 to be launched in 1972, one year after he went back to Germany to assume his position as VW CEO. Over the space of three years from 1968 to 1971 he also achieved, a 50% increase in Volkswagen's Brazilian production.
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