I had the opportunity to drive up to some friends house in Birmingham this weekend. While going up I planned ahead to re-visit the MBUSA factory in Tuscaloosa, AL. We took delivery of ours in Oct 2001. At the time, the factory tours for "factory delivery" customers was put on hold due to Sept 11th. I was able to do that tour this past Friday. It was absotulely amazing at how this is all accomplished.

The factory had been closed for mandatory vacation the week of July 4th and when they went back to work Monday, July 7, 2003 they began production of 04 models. During my visit on Friday they were only producing 165 units per shift. There are two shifts per day. (6am - 3pm and 6pm - 3am)

It's interesting to note why the slow down in production if only very minor changes were being made. I looked hard and couldn't find any changes at all. Oh well.

If anyone is ever taking the I-20 corridor from Atlanta to Jackson, MS be sure to stop and check it out. It's worth the 2 hour stop.

MB US, Intl website