Smartville, Hambach, France

Smart Hambach is a car factory in Hambach (France). In the work of the Smart is built.

In the work of the smart fortwo and smart fortwo electric drive will be produced. The factory site has an area of ​​695,000 m², the built-up floor area is 137 647 m². The factory 777 employees (as at 31 December 2011). 2011 103.635 vehicles were produced.

History

The plant was opened in 1997, the first smart fortwo was produced in 1998. 2000 was followed by the launch of the smart fortwo cabrio. 2003 was the 500,000. smart fortwo from the tape.

The second generation smart fortwo has been built since 2007, 2008 the total production of the smart fortwo reached one million vehicles. 2009 started production of the smart fortwo electric drive. 2011 was 500,000. produces smart fortwo of the second generation.

The work, with its 2,000 employees, is one of the most modern car factories. It was built for 450 million euros and began producing in 1997. To enable optimal production processes, the work is created in a cross shape; in each of the four offshoots different assembly work are provided. The center, called the Market Square, serves as a test area for finished vehicles and rework. The center is several levels; so all administrative, IT and changing rooms and the canteen could be realized at a central location. For the erection of Smartville the Daimler -Benz group contributed 75 % of the cost, 25 % took SOFIREM, a French company for the restructuring of mining regions.

The decision for the location Hambach and against the alternative site Lahr fell for several reasons. Lorraine in general and the region around Hambach in particular were formerly dominated by heavy industry. With the decline of the industry, a considerable part of the population was unemployed. From the EU funds for poorer regions and the French Government therefore funds for industrial development in Hambach available that would not have flowed in Lahr stood. Also, the high unemployment offered the advantage of a high labor force at a resettlement. The proximity to the highway is another plus point, which would, however, admitted in Lahr available. The decisive factors were finally the large land reserves and the lower wage level in Lorraine. Theoretical energy calculations showed that a smart at the French site per vehicle was up to 75 euros cheaper to produce than on the German side. The modern production concept also requires a high surface use.

Smart is in the automotive sector, the company with the lowest production depth. It is only 10 %, with most other manufacturers, it is often 20-40 %. This means that 90 % of the production steps will be provided to the finished vehicle suppliers.

To perfect this concept, most of the suppliers were settled with its own production facilities around the smart plant in Hambach. The body manufacturer Magna International produces the chassis for parts that are supplied by the Daimler factory in Sindelfingen. Siemens VDO produces the entire cockpit, the harnesses and the batteries. ThyssenKrupp Automotive will supply the complete drive unit. The sets of tires are delivered from Continental. This supplying entire modules is called modular sourcing. The buildings for the suppliers were built and placed to facilitate the suppliers set up a plant at the site of the company Smart.

The smart production is realized without any storage, all parts are delivered just in time, and even just in sequence, that is, that all suppliers on the individual order data of each vehicle have access and that they deliver the parts in the same order as they needed in smart work. Since Smart produced to order only vehicles, the finished vehicles are stored for a few days before they are delivered by proprietary station in the respective smart center. Once the vehicles are completed, their functionality is provided in a number of tests on the sample, such as an engine test, a seal test and on a rough road. Any problems during production are solved from 50 salaried maintenance personnel. The close proximity of suppliers also allows the maintenance of parts delivered by the respective contractors.

Is carried out in two layers, a vehicle has a passage time of 8 ½ hours. Final assembly of 4 ½ hours. The production capacity is about 750 units per day. To keep the motivation of the workers at a high level, are organized into teams of eight of them. These teams have a relatively flat hierarchy. Every week we stopped for a quarter of an hour the production to allow the teams a reflection. In addition, all employees have submitted via the participation system "Eureka" the opportunity to suggest improvements to the production process as well as general in nature. The best ideas will be awarded with a bonus. Also the cleanliness of the respective portions of each team is recorded and rewarded.