The Next Chapter

Flexibility, automation, new material handling processes and doubling everything from plant size to workers to output mark the second chapter of DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz assembly plant in Vance, AL.

The expanded plant represents a $3.5 billion investment to date, including development costs of the original '98 M-Class SUV, new '06 M-Class and new-entry R-Class cross/utility vehicles now in production, says Hans-Heinrich Weingarten, DC executive vice president-Mercedes production.

DC's Southern gamble started with the eyebrow-raising announcement in September 1993 that a Mercedes would be built outside Germany — in the non-automotive state of Alabama.

“There was no plant or product, just hills and rough terrain,” recalls Bill Taylor, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc.

Construction started in October 1994, and the first M-Class rolled off the line in February 1997.

The original plant occupied 300 of 966 acres (121 of 391 ha), and the plan was for nearly 65,000 vehicles annually and 1,500 workers, at a cost of $300 million. Another $100 million was subsequently invested to bump production to 80,000 vehicles, boosting employment to 1,800 workers in the single-product plant.

“Every year, Vance has exceeded the original plan, averaging instead 80,000 units,” says Eckhard Cordes, head of the Mercedes Car Group.

To meet demand in Europe, Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG in Graz, Austria, produced an additional 25,000 units annually from 2000-2002.

In Alabama, the last original M-Class rolled off the line Dec. 9, 2004, just days after the Dec. 3 Job One of the first '06 M-Class that went from a body-on-frame SUV to a unibody CUV construction.

The second-generation model went on sale in April. May sales skyrocketed 80%, with 3,319 units sold. Deliveries to Europe began in July.

Pilot production of the R-Class also began at the end of 2004, with launch of production models June 23, for sale this fall.

The original 1.2 million-sq.-ft. (112,000-sq.-m) plant has grown to more than 3 million sq.-ft. (279,000 sq.-m) today, occupying a further 300 acres.

The body shop was expanded to create a second, mirror-image shop, from which flows a second paint shop and assembly line, at a cost of $600 million.

“The concept from the beginning was everything under one roof,” Taylor says.

The final result is a U-shaped complex, a design that allowed the original plant (No.1) to run while Plant No.2 was under construction, and No.1 to be retrofitted, with no loss of production, Taylor says.

Total production has been boosted to 160,000 units annually, and the workforce hit 4,000 at the end of July with the addition of the second shift on No. 2.

The hiring process takes 57 hours, and many workers waited as long as two years from application to hire. Once in, they receive “team wear,” a blue shirt with their first name on the front that is standard fare for the first six months. After that, they graduate to the color and type of shirt of their choice.

There is less than 1% turnover, Taylor says.

With the expansion, the degree of automation leapt from 80 robots in the original plant to 800, including 663 in the body shops. They perform four types of welds: spot, stud, MIG and TIG, with ultrasonic testing of weld credibility. Cameras on robotic arms take laser measurements.

The automation gives the plant the flexibility to switch volume, on demand, between the two vehicles that are from different platforms but share some electrical architecture, fulltime 4-wheel-drive system and powerplants.

Taylor says it is too early to say what the model mix will be in the plant. “(M-Class) is certainly at this point in time, the volume vehicle,” he says. “That can change. But right now, that's the indication.”

While Cordes has said the plant will get future products (expected to be the next-generation G-Class), Taylor says the plant currently only is tooled for two products, with variations such as short- and long-wheelbase R-Class, with full metal or glass roof.

“We're setting ourselves up to be an interesting example of flexibility in product and volumes and the ability to move those around,” Taylor says. “All in the industry have wrestled with this.”

Finished bodies travel on an overhead catwalk to paint. Again, each paint shop is capable of handling both vehicles, with combined capacity of about 900 vehicles a day (300 through No.1 and 600 through No.2).

The whole process takes 16 hours and includes a sealer that is heated to liquid form for robots to apply. It hardens and seals to protect against corrosion. The new vehicles also wear a new clear coat with a scratch-resistant gloss finish.

Once the body is painted, it waits for just-in-time movement to assembly, at the same time as interior components such as the cockpit or center console arrive from nearby supplier plants.

Taylor says the plant is adopting a Toyota Motor Corp. system of material handling known as the “lane system” to deal with the complexity of multiple car lines and parts for the many variations of the two vehicles for export to 135 countries.

“What we're trying to do is to take the decision-making as much as possible away from the process, so things are more sequenced,” Taylor says. Sequencing, both internally and externally, is designed to improve worker efficiency, “but also right part, right time, right car and so on.”

Essentially, material comes in, in sequence, is taken off the forklift and put in a safe area until it is summoned from the line via a button at each station, at which point it is put on wheels and sent to the appropriate station.

“It's great for visualization because empty dollies at certain times of the day mean there's a problem,” Taylor says. “If two pallets come in and there are three dollies, it's a short shipment.”

Usually there is a 1-day supply of parts in the plant and 2-3 hours' worth line-side.

Taylor says it is a painful process now, in the learning curve. “But it will be very beneficial for us in the long run.”

There are six trim lines with interior parts. When the vehicle arrives at the sixth, a signal is sent to the engine and chassis line, an invitation to the pending marriage of body and chassis.

Upon leaving trim, the vehicle is lowered, putting its full weight on its own four wheels for the first time, to travel through the four final assembly lines.

Body and chassis are joined with 20 bolts.

It takes 20-20.5 hours to build a vehicle. At the end, each one is driven for validation “because we can't hear squeaks and rattles in the assembly line,” Taylor says of the new practice.

As many as 1,100 trucks leave the plant daily for U.S. distribution. Vehicles go by rail to ports for international delivery.