Today we went to the Mercedes-Benz factory. It was much different from the Porsche factory, their production levels were about two times that a Porsche does.
What was really cool was seeing stamping machines, how they take huge rolls of steel in aluminum and over three or four different stamps, dies and cuts make the different parts of the car that are then put together using robots and welded. The scale of these machines and being right up next to them was an incredible experience, they are over 20tons and when they would go down it would make the concrete solid ground shake. Seeing all of the different molds and how learning how they make 20% in house and make new ones every 7 years is so interesting.
Inside of the assembly plant, it was much different than Porsche, the cars were being held much differently, and will be learned is that the factory was built to be more module. Factory 52 seeing the workflow is very interesting.
After we then went to the University, and received a mini luncheon from one of the professors. It was fascinating, it was a tease of industry 4.0 and what we would be learning about the next day. One of the topics that we discussed was the two types of auto manufacturers, built to order and built to stock, a car based on the customers preferences and every single car that comes out of the line is slightly different than the one before it is it’s own variant. Some of the reasons name is driven by market forces and customer ordering preferences.
This was very interesting to learn about, and I’m very excited to learn more tomorrow! Digital twins, industry 4.0, IOT, technology and sensor utilization of a small, to drive and create data analytics with big data to drive business decisions, and create and add value.
