If you are passionate about trucks, you work in the transport sector, at some point you asked yourself how they are manufactured, how is the assembly process, because I will tell you here.
In this occasion, we will focus on the Mercedes-Benz Actros truck, which is produced in the Daimler facilities in Wörth am Rhein, with around 3 million square meters. It is the world’s largest truck assembly plant.
To move from one side to another is very common to see workers traveling by bicycle in kilometric corridors.
This factory has a complex design that is divided into two zones. The first, chassis assembly line, mounted along the plant transversely, is a chain of approximately 600 meters long where 6 hours of work are dedicated to each unit.
The technology used in this factory, is advanced, use lasers to mark the plates of the chassis, this is so that the workers, at the beginning of the assembly, can know the measurements of screws, couple to use, place of assembly of each piece, etc. In parallel, the second zone is located the body assembly line, with different stations or work units such as cabins, paint, interior, accessories, etc. Later in the last unit of the second zone, it is aligned with the first one to later take out the final product.
The production of trucks is still more complex than the production of other vehicles, due to the level of personalization of the same, each client has special requirements (a la carte) which means 2400 combinations as load capacity, motorization, power, torque, motor box relationship, chassis design configuration, and others more. It is for this reason that it can not be produced in masse.
In Worth am Rhein, 400 trucks per day are produced, that is, 25 trucks per hour and 80,000 trucks per year.
The Suppliers, this factory is supplied with 4000 pieces per truck, which translates to a wide range of suppliers 4000 to be exact. And this is why 1000 of these suppliers, have their plants “in situ” wall to wall with the factory of Mercedes Benz.
The logistics of this factory, has such a high level of complexity, that it took 2 years to adjust the elements to the needs of the new vehicle Actros, and during this time, the production continued but mixing the chains of assemblies with a vehicle and other.
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 