Author: Lee Barents

Today we visited the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen. Our tour guide Max, a man with spectacular hair, gave us a great tour through a couple of the assembly plants. We were not allowed to take pictures for safety and privacy reasons.

We started out with a short video on Mercedes-Benz as a whole and overview of the layout of the Bremen plant. We then drove to building 7, where the body of the cars come together. This facility is 95% automated. The cars travel on an assembly line from station to station where robotic arms install, glue, and weld the pieces together. Each station only takes about 64 seconds which keeps the line moving constantly all day long. It was incredible to see the maze of assembly lines, elevators, lines supplying parts, along with workers all working in unison to assemble these cars. It was also amazing that each car is different and the robots and workers have to know which car they are working on and which part go to that car.

We then drove to another building where the cars came after getting paint. Here, 98% of the work is done by hand. In this plant a lot of the final assemble takes place from windows to electronics to wheels. We walked above on a catwalk in this plant. It was really cool to see where the chassis with the engine and drivetrain and the body that we saw assembled before come together and are joined and “married.” Since all the cars on the line are different models and specifications, the two lines have to be perfectly in sync so the correct body meets the correct chassis. From this point all the final pieces are added like doors and wheels. The cars then get inspected at the end of the line.

It was really cool to see how this massive process is run so smoothly in order to put out 1,800 cars a day. The giant robots working together in the first building and all the different people working together in the second was an interesting contrast. Overall, great visit.

During our short visit to Hamburg, we visited the Elbe Tunnel. Our tour guide during our boat tour strongly suggested we check it out before leaving the city. With a little extra time we walked over from the boat dock to the tunnel. You walk in to a dome shaped building at normal ground level and inside are four massive elevators big enough to nearly fit 2 cars in each. The elevators lower cars and people 80 feet below the surface to where two 20 foot wide tunnels travel almost 1400 feet to the other side of the river Elbe. When we were there, we only saw one car come out of the tunnel and get lifted up and out.

The tunnel was originally constructed in 1911 to make it easier for workers in the shipyard and docks to get to the other side of the river. The river would get very crowded during rush hour with people and vehicle trying to get across by ferry. A traditional bridge couldn’t be placed in this location because large ships needed to continue to use the river. Since 1911, the elevators have obviously been updated and modernized, but the function of the tunnel remains the same. Newer more modern bridges and tunnels have been built to lessen the load on this tunnel, but it still handles a reported 300,000 vehicles, 63,000 bicycles, and 700,000 pedestrians in 2008.

For its time in 1911, the Elbe tunnel was an engineering marvel that made life a lot easier on many workers and travelers. Even today it is an impressive operation that continues to run.

Every morning before we hop on the bus or leave for the day’s activities, we enjoy breakfast at the various hotels we are staying in. So far, these breakfasts have been very good, providing a large array of options to choose from. There is usually the typical pancakes, bacon, and sausage, a selection of fruit and yogurt, many different types of breads and toppings, as well as local pastries from the region or country we happen to be in, just to name a few options. These breakfasts provide a quick and easy opportunity to start the day off on the right foot.