Originally Posted by City Rat

I am just completing a business trip to Stuttgart and through some hard work by the AMG staff and a bit of scheduling luck I was able to get a private tour of the AMG Engine building facility in Affalterbach, Germany. I thought I'd share a few of my observations with the forum.
One man one engine- The motto is real. Occasionally a thread pops up here if the one man one engine concept is real or just hype. From my observation it is real and alive and kicking. There was some kerfuffle about the "One Man" part recently as there are now four female certified engine builders but the AMG gods have determined that the motto will stay as is for now.

Craftsmen at work- I watched how one builder signs out a fresh engine block and walks it around the factory, from station to station assembling and testing at each step until he is done with it , his name plate goes on and it is packed for storage. It was clear that they were not putting Legos together but building an engine, checking fit and tolerances for each new element. I watched as a couple of builders did not like the fit of a component and tore it back down and rebuilt until they were satisfied that it was correct and moved on to the next station.

In terms of production times, it takes them 3 hours to build the current V8 and 5 hours to build the current V12. They are able to accomplish this because AMG has set up the building process with the builder at the top of the pyramid. At every station every tool that the builder will need is present and pre-torqued to spec. There is a small army of logistics and supply guys that keep each build station stocked with every part the builder will need to finish that section of the build. In this way the builder never loses time or concentration looking for tools or waiting for parts. Last a word about concentration, there is little or no cross talk or chatter among the builders as they pass each other or work at side by side stations, V8, floor. V12 floor has just one build line. These folks are very serious about their work.

Training- I was taken over to the training area and watch 8 folks being trained in how to build AMG engines. All were already certified techs moving to the next level. Unlike the floors, there was a supervisor, master builder, for every two trainees. The trainees spent every day, all day of their training cycle building AMG V8s and V12s and then tearing them down as the master builder critiques and works with them so that they can go out on the floor and take responsibility for building an AMG quality product. BTW, the builders on the floor are largely unsupervised. Don't get me wrong every tool they use and every part they touch is scanned and monitored. They are expected , at this level, to do their jobs without mother hen over their shoulder.

Atmosphere- After meeting my tour guide in the showroom we went over to the engine works. I have a hard time calling it a factory as it is clean as a hospital and incredibly quiet. Quiet enough that as the guide and I were having a conversations about what each builder was doing and how occasionally they would look up from their work and smile.

Facility staff- I can't say enough about the staff and how they worked with me for two weeks as I tried to wedge in a tour around my work schedule, German holidays, weekends, etc. Once there they were extremley gracious and their attention to detail was impressive. A demonstration of that was that after the tour I was escorted up to the AMG Owners Private Lounge, as they called it "the real one" lol, served coffee and snacks , shown about the memorabilia from racing teams past etc. While the guide had stepped away to check on something for me the bar tender/barrista came around and asked had I looked out the window. I said yes and she asked if I had noticed any flaggs flying in front of their corporate facilities. I confessed that I hadn't paid it much mind. She responded that "we did it for you". Did what I dimly responded. She said the American flag, we put it up this morning to welcome you. The guide returned and beamed that yes, in fact the staff raises the national flag of an international visitor to their facility. There was a French guy earlier who had been given a tour so his flag was up as well. Lots more detail but I thought that you guys might appreciate the observations. Cheers.