MBUSI
Manufacturing Trivia

MBUSI Manufacturing Trivia

• MBUSI facility is on approximately 1000 acres – with current expansion we will be utilizing 2/3rds
  
• 571,003 First Generation M-Class were built
  
• The first plant was approx 1.2 million square feet – now we have a total of over 3 million square feet
  
• We have one body shop, two paint shops, and two assembly shops all under one roof
  
• Plant 1 and 2 can build both the M-Class and the R-Class can only be built in Plant 2
  
• Team Members all wear “Team Wear”; administration team member work in an open office environment to enhance open communications.
  
• Team Members wear special safety shoes that are rated “ESD” or prevent Electric Static Discharge – to prevent potential damage to electronic components.
  
• Every vehicle we build here is for an order from one of our 135 worldwide markets
  
• The Plants were constructed to be flexible in order to accommodate both the M-Class & R-Class
  
• Each station has a takt time to perform its task. In the body shop they run a takt time of 76 seconds and Assembly they run at 93 seconds (except for the marriage station which is 70 seconds)
  
• Because of the increased technology in our product today, and the complexity of the new products, there is more automation in our plants. The first example you will see today is in the Body Shop. We now have approximately 800 robots in the plant. Of those, approx. 640 are in the Body Shop compared to the 60 robots in the previous Body Shop which helps ensure repeatability and consistency
  
• Production volume in 2005 is approximately 100,000 and we use flexible manufacturing technology. We have the capability to produce 160,000 M-Class, R-Class and variations.
  
• New Paint shop will be able to produce up to 600 vehicles a day. Paint is not just about color. The paint protects the body.
  
• The welding of the W164 body is a precision process. There are over approximately 5,000 welds added to the body. Welds not only hold the components together, they add safety and overall dimensional accuracy
  
• The Perceptron laser measurement device a highly accurate procedure utilizing laser sensors to ensure that the dimensions on every body meet the Mercedes-Benz standard of excellence. The perceptron has cameras located on the robot that measure selected dimensional spots.
  
• MBUSI uses “Just-in-Time” (JIT). It is a manufacturing method based on the idea that we don’t stockpile large amounts of the inventory we use to assemble the M-Class. In fact, in the assembly shop we only keep about 2 hours of inventory on line, whereas in the body shop we have approx. three hours line side.
  
• The Energy Center makes the whole assembly process possible team members in the Energy Center located between the two plants work around the clock in three shifts to make sure that we have all the electricity, natural gas, compressed air, and various waters used in the manufacturing process. The energy required at full production is approximately 50 million watts (roughly the same as 10,000 typical homes)