Mercedes-Benz U.S. International
Mercedes -Benz U.S. International ( MBUSI ) is an American automobile manufacturer based in Vance in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He belongs to the division Mercedes-Benz Cars Daimler AG of Germany and is the only Mercedes plant in the U.S.. Are manufactured sport utility vehicles (SUV ).
History
In April 1993, the parent company decided then Daimler- Benz AG to build a plant in the U.S. in order to serve the American market better and to underline the claim as a global company. In September of the location decision, which was founded MBUSI fell. In July 1996, was the work, had invested 300 million U.S. dollars in the Daimler, finished. In January / February 1997, the production of the M-Class the first generation was launched, planned as the first of the ML 320 was first to produce 65,000 copies per year. For sale in the United States was in September of this year. Due to the success Daimler invested in 1998 and 1999 together $ 80 million in an expansion of the production volume by around 20 % to 80,000 units per year. Now rolled, made in two shifts, an average of 350 cars a day off the line. From the first-generation M-Class, 571,000 units were produced. In August 2000, Daimler AG announced further expansion plans. For $ 600 million, a further production line has been built to produce the second -generation M- Class and the R- and GL-Class. From 1999 to 2002 had to satisfy the demand in Europe can, the M -Class at the Magna Steyr plant (Graz / Austria ) are manufactured. With the completion of the expansion end of 2004 and the start of production in 2005 doubled in about production volume and area as well as the number of employees.
The company in figures
The factory site covers 3.8 million square meters, the mere production takes 300,000 square feet to complete. The work consists of a body shop, two paint and two assembly lines, all under one roof. Is produced according to the just -in-time principle, with intermediate periods of storage of delivered parts of only a few hours. In value terms, two-thirds of the processed parts come from North American suppliers, of which about 30 are located directly in the region. Also, German suppliers have offices near the factory, such as Eberspacher. Engines and transmissions come from Germany. The GL-Class is produced in plant 1, the M- and R-Class in Plant 2 are deployed around 1300 robot, 1150 of them in the body. The annual production of the plant in 2006 was 173,000 vehicles. The energy consumption at full production is around 50 MW.
In 2007, nearly 3,900 company employees worked (as of year-end). Overall depend according to the company over 10,000 ( elsewhere are over 22,000 known ) jobs in the region directly or indirectly from the work from.
MBUSI produced not only for customers in the United States but for the entire world market. With an export volume of 1 billion U.S. dollars a year, the company is the largest exporter in Alabama. The entire value of the work shall be according to the company at about 1.5 billion dollars.
Products
Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV ) of the M-, R - and GL-Class.