According to various consumer surveys, recent Mercedes-Benz models have shown a marked improvement in finished vehicle quality. Dr. Ingo Ettischer, Director of E-Class Assembly at the OEM’s Sindelfingen plant, talks to Julian Buckley about the process changes and initiatives put in place on the assembly line that helped put the quality back in the new E-Class range.
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The three points of the Mercedes ‘star’ logo celebrate Gottlieb Daimler’s original ambition of seeing his engines used on land, sea and in the air. For a short while at least, he achieved his goal, as Daimler-branded engines were used in speedboats, airships and motorised vehicles.
Although use of Daimler’s engines on the sea and in the air is now an historical footnote, Mercedes-Benz, a cornerstone of the larger company that bears Daimler’s name, continues to build on the inventor’s legacy, building cars, trucks and buses on five continents, Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa.
Of the plants that make up this global production network, the largest is Sindelfingen, located near Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Encompassing 2.9km2, the plant employs approximately 28,000 people and features research and development, planning and procurement departments.
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