Hi Ralph,
In 2009 I toured three plants in Germany Mercedes near Stuttgart , BMW in München and VW, Dresden.
Each one did not allow a camera to be taken into the factory at the time, like yourself I was fascinated by the degree of perfection the cars are build.
The VW factory really impressed me parts and the required specialized tools would come out from the floor to the technicians for assembly and/or testing. It is a Glass Factory, the visitor can follow the assembly of the car throughout the factory looking thro glass all of the time following the progress. When I was there the manufactured the high end Volkswagen Phaeton, production of this car ended last year. Dresden has severe memories for me, I spend weeks in air-raid shelters there as a child surviving the boomings. The factory is downtown and one of the cleanest I had the pleasure to tour. Special street cars have been modified to deliver parts for the assembly of the car. You could practically eat of the floor it was that clean as you will note in the video. Now years later I found this video, no need for a camera anymore. just skip the commercial when the clip starts.
Video link ---->
https://youtu.be/nd5WGLWNllAThe BMW factory was the same, no cameras allowed so one can leave it in the car. The assembly technology is the same, robots everywhere as the video exhibits (more videos are available along the side bar once the clip opens).
Video link ---->
https://youtu.be/libw1rV2McYThe Mercedes factory is very near the main delivery centre were customers from all around the world pick up there new cars. For the tour one is taken by bus on a short ride to the factory. I was lucky at the time and was attached to a group of customers that received a special tour before they picked up there new car (the lady at the desk explained that one needs reservations, however, attached me to the tour since I came from Canada
she made an exception. At one point during the tour there was a stoppage of the line where the body was spot welded. The tour guide made us wait till the line started again. The next car body was moved into a cage with 3 robots on each side then the sparks stared to fly all over the place during the tack weld operation. It was quite something to see. The tour guide explained "I made you wait since I wanted you to see this segment of the operation. This operation used to take 1 minute for the tack weld operation our Engineers reduced this by 6 seconds" we were quite impressed. I'm sure it makes quite a difference in the yearly production.
A typical video link here --->
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pAuzMD7UUYYNaturally I also visited the above museums including the Porsche one in Stuttgart, it was a great trip. In July I will be part of the Mosel Tour (my first trip back to the old country since I was there last in 2012). While there I will visit the AMG engine plant I like to see first hand how the fellows (one engine one man) assemble those powerful engines then put there name on it
The AMG clip is here --->
https://youtu.be/ri_LFckaT7gCheers,
Dieter
