My Bremen Factory Report (New CLK and more…)

01-08-2002, 10:14 AM

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Maff

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My Bremen Factory Report (New CLK and more…)

Hi all,

Sorry it took so long to post! Here it is. (A bit long!)

Arrived in Bremen on the 3rd December.
During the Christmas period the town hosts many different Christmas fairs, which if anyone is considering going to Bremen, would probably be the best time. Lots to do at the fairs, and lots to buy! Adds a real ‘feel’ to Christmas somehow.

Anyway, first day at the factory I went to the customer collection centre where the customers come in to pick up their new cars direct, and at a guess, where some of you guys can pick up your cars on the Euro delivery. I was given a quick overview of the plant and the workings, and was then shown a short film on the history of the plant etc. One thing the film highlighted that stuck in my mind, is the saying ‘A Mercedes is a Mercedes is a Mercedes’, regardless of what model is being built, they are all built with the same passion and quality. Maybe reasonably true. I'll post some pictures to show the plant layout etc.

The first plant I visited was the SLK construction, from the press shop upwards. It’s amazing how a car can be built from a flat piece of steel. The steel arrives in pre-determined flat sheets, opposed to steel rolls which up until recently was the standard. Apparently with the flat sheets they can cut down on waste. 7% of the steel comes from the UK, the rest from Germany. They were also hand finishing some side panels for the new CLK coupe in this shop, I guess for finalising the presses.

The SLK line has the least robots from what I could see, the majority of the construction once the shell had been put together was by hand. Robots installed the dash and windshields. The vario roof was installed by hand, and takes roughly 15 minutes and 4-5 people to install down the line. The whole line runs at 12v, so any part of the car’s electronics can be hooked up to the line and powered. They hooked up the roof and tested as soon as it had been installed. The AMG SLK’s are made on the same line, not much different to any other SLK, apart from the engine and transmission arrives on a little trolley to be installed by the same engineers. All engineers are multi-skilled and swap jobs every week or so.

As with all factories, from start to finish, it takes roughly one week to build a vehicle, SLK or CLK.

I then stopped at the CLK production line. Other models are made on the same line, C-Class sedan and wagon, and the CLK coupe. CLK cabs are made by karmann (http://www.karmann.de) at a separate factory of their own. C-class coupes are also made on a different line.

The line is automated more so than the SLK line, and the number of CLK’s running through the line was very small. I was in the factory for about 3 hours, and only saw 3 CLK’s compared to lots of C-Class. They had a small section where they were constructing the new CLK’s by hand. They had 3 new CLK’s finished, and were measuring an un-painted version whilst I was there with various measuring aids, only one of the tools they were using being electrical. The new CLK seemed to me to be smaller than the current CLK, but that may just be my perception. It was a pillar less design, the similar to the CL, but not quite as sweeping. The front lights were exactly the same design as in the spy picture below, and the rear lights were the same shape as the rear lights in our CLK’s, but more curved (i.e. rounded and not triangular like the current CL) but had the two clear strips where the turn signals light up similar to the SLK. The car seemed a bit ‘bland’ to me, the sides were very straight, where the current CLK sides are quite rounded. The lines of the car did not seem as nice as the current CLK to me, however the new style itself brings the car in between the CL and the new SL in terms of style, which may be a good thing. The wheelbase seemed the same. The hood looked quite short, I guess as V8 may fit, but it looks like it will be damn tight in there.

The new front headlights:

The new CLK production line was 99% complete, it’s still on the same line as the C-Class, however they have built a channel that diverts the new CLK’s on a slightly separate route towards the end.

Lastly I visited the new SL line. The SL line is noticeably smaller compared to the C, CLK line, and is also more of a hand made car. Around 40% of the build of the car is done on a 45-degree slope, so the workers don’t get a bad back bending under and over. They can also spin the car around on the production line. I think from what the MB rep said, the SL line will become a lot more automated as time goes on, but at the moment they are hand building a lot more of the car than they would.
I also had the pleasure of going round MB’s test track after the SL factory in an AMG, and managing 3’gs in the banked corner! Apparently all the factory test drivers have to pass a medical before being allowed on the test track, due to the amount of g-force they experience over and over gain.

Well, that’s about it, I’m sure there are a few things I’ve forgotten. If I remember anything I’ll add it to the post. Any questions just ask!

Here is the link to photos I took whilst at the plant.

PS. MB says they are looking into new ways to improve our paint job… I can’t stand the chips on the front of my car.

I’ll scan in some photos of the plant later tonight if anyone wants.

Matt.

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