It was an early start for us today. We got on the bus at 7 AM this morning to go to the Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen. The plant employs over 35,000 people, with roughly 21,500 of them committed to production, while the remainder are devoted to R&D (regrettably, we were not able to see their research and development area). It was impressive to see their organizational system, they definitely utilize the philosophy of LEAN production in several ways I was able to identify in a short time. First, they do not have large warehouses for parts, they order them as necessary and their suppliers work quickly to supply the necessary parts to the plant. They estimate their demand and set the workflow to match that, they’re not concerned with meeting demand as quickly as possible. For example, they operate their line at a certain slow speed, I believe it was 2.6 m per minute, and while they’re capable of moving at much faster speeds, up to maybe 8.9 m per minute, they would meet their demand far too early and the plant’s employees would have to be furloughed until demand picked up again. They have automated robots that carry parts along assigned tracks throughout the production floor.
After the trip to the Mercedes facility, we were free to spend the day as we wished, more or less. Some of us chose to take a bus tour of Stuttgart, which really helped to clue me into how significant of a city this really is in Germany, being the 6th largest in the country. There’s history in this city dating back to the middle of the 10th century, and it’s been the home city of dukes and duchesses in the past, living in the palace I mentioned yesterday. Due to some baggage mishaps, I needed to buy myself a new pair of shoes to tide me over, so some other students and I spent time in stores, finding the differences in American foods and their German equivalents, spent a lot of time walking around the city’s residential areas, and at the suggestion of a native German I know from my home, I tried döner for dinner, which was excellent. Overall, I’ve come to appreciate this city a lot more from today, and am looking forward to tomorrow’s activities, particularly the trip through a Porsche manufacturing plant.
