AmericanAutoWorker

• One expanded Body Shop
• Two Paint Shops
• Two Assembly Shops

Welcome to Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, U.S.A., and the manufacturing facility where the M-Class, the R-Class, and the GL-Class are built. Everything is under one roof… from Body, Paint, and Assembly shops to Administration and Shipping. This unity helps to emphasize the importance of teamwork and to foster team member communication and facilitate the consistent, incomparable quality inherent in the assembly of all Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Each model is built "just-in-time," a manufacturing method based on the idea that stockpiling large amounts of inventory is not only inefficient but unnecessary. In fact, in the assembly shop, the target is to have only 2 hours worth of inventory stocked (approximately 3 hours in the body shop) at any given time for the production line. When additional inventory is needed, our automated system places an order for replenishment and it's delivered almost immediately.

The manufacturing process for both models begins in the Body Shop where the components that comprise the metal body are welded together. Then, from the ultra-clean Paint Shop, the painted body finishes its journey in Assembly where it becomes a new Mercedes-Benz M, R, or GL-Class ready for shipping. From beginning to end, our Mercedes-Benz vehicles are created with style, functionality, and quality in mind.

To make this process possible, the MBUSI Energy Center provides and monitors the power required to produce the vehicles. Team members in the Energy Center work around the clock in three shifts to make sure that we have all the electricity, natural gas, compressed air, and various waters used in the manufacturing process. The energy required at full production is approximately 50 million watts—or roughly similar to the typical energy needs of 10,000 single-family homes.