I wanted to give myself a little time to write this because the Mercedes Benz plant was massive and it was a lot to take in. The plant was the size of some of the towns we visited, and inside the production warehouses and the production line gave the impression of complete chaos, but everything was calculated and in control. The guide told us that the production line is about 95% automated, and the other 5% is done by skilled workers. The amount of technology and part preparation that goes into such an automated system that can handle different car types with different modifications and specs must be immense, and it was. I, as someone who is not a mechanical engineering and does not want to work in production line engineering was both overwhelmed and very intrigued by their system. I wanted to know more about it, to get a more in depth analysis, but if course that would have been confidential and taken way more than the 2 hour visit we had.
Some of the numbers the guide talked about was 2200 spot welds per car, 22 stages for coating and painting per car, and that they produce 1800 cars per day. Those numbers sound ridiculous until you see the robotic arms they use and the size of the plant.