Daimler's Factory 56: A digital Ecosystem for Mercedes

conveyor belts in the factories of Ford made the car available to the masses, because the Assembly was so cheap. More than 100 years later, the savings are not irritating to opportunities in the auto production still. A fully digitized car factory will bring great gain in efficiency is expected for Daimler. If all goes to Plan, will quickly show – in the "Factory 56", in the next model of the Mercedes S-class is produced.

Susanne Preuß

business correspondent in Stuttgart, Germany.

in September, it's happening, and nothing must go wrong, because with the S-class, the proud Stuttgart-based car manufacturer wants to highlight always top of the automotive progress. The is not redeemed, suffers from the reputation. And this time, not only for the vehicle itself, but also for the production, was announced as a "turning point in automotive production" at the laying of the Foundation stone for the Factory 56 two and half years ago.

Fully networked and highly flexible, the factory is supposed to be, because Daimler uses here according to their own statements, everything is modern, up to the first 5G network in a car factory, together with Ericsson and O2 tested for some months. Here machines talk with other machines or vehicles or with people – and what they exchange of data, is not only a place in Sindelfingen, but can be incorporated via the Cloud, also in the factories in Beijing or Tuscaloosa in the current production.

amortization after three months

That, in turn, should not be a Gimmick, but part of quality management: Show the machine data is any abnormity, it should be in all works immediately at the appropriate Places so that the error can be avoided. What is here, all processes run like clockwork, is the Mercedes-Benz Cars Operations 360 or, in short, "MO360". The "digital production Ecosystem" is not a completely new invention, but has spread in the production network of the Mercedes-Benz factories in 30 locations and with 2000 suppliers one after the other. In the Factory 56, the platform should come but for the first time, complete the application and all processes link together, from order to final inspection of each car.

Theoretically, the customer can register itself until shortly before the installation change wishes: "Dear purple paint instead of black" would be in the factory of the future is no longer a Problem. As far as can be arranged in the Background of the machines, everything is prepared for such change orders to the employees notice it at all. Conversely, you will be charged for all the data matching the next step available, depending on your needs, with a variety of devices. Also Augmented Reality plays a major role in the marked, for example, just the part that needs to be taken next in Hand. Information on paper, however, have to be saved no more space in the digital world – which is why alone in the Factory 56 a year, ten tons of paper.

"with the improved processes, area-wide data availability and quick decisions on the Basis of real-time data, we will increase up to the year 2022, the efficiency in the production of more than 15 percent," says Mercedes Board member for Production, Jörg Burzer. The basis of comparison is the year 2019. The presumption is that in the Mercedes plants is created beyond the already existing Overcapacity, a further surplus, is close to the Factory 56 in Sindelfingen, which has an area of around 30 football fields, will be only a few hundred employees to be found. But Burzer stresses: "It is not only the colleagues of the Band. The efficiency of thought extends to the entire value-added chain.“