The FINANCIAL — The Mercedes-Benz plant in Untertürkheim is one of Daimler AG’s oldest plants whose tradition and history date back over a hundred years. Untertürkheim is the place where the Mercedes-Benz brand took root, and where the myth of the automobile was created and automobile history written.
Today, with around 18,000 employees in seven divisions, Daimler AG’s parent plant develops and produces engines, axles and transmissions for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars throughout the world – as such, the company is the largest industrial employer in the region. The Untertürkheim site comprises seven divisions which extend over an area of more than two million square metres in the region of Stuttgart. The plant management is headquartered in Esslingen-Mettingen, from where all activities relating to the production of engines are co-ordinated.
In addition to the production of engines, axles and transmissions, the Untertürkheim plant is also home to pre-commissioning, handled by the foundry and forging mill, which have partly been there since the origins of the site. Also accommodated within the parent plant are the R&D division with its high-bank curve for testing vehicles, part of the commercial vehicles division as well as a number of important central divisions.
All elements relating to engine production have been co-ordinated from Untertürkheim since April 2006. The so-called “Powertrain” co-ordinated production system embraces the engine plants of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Berlin, Hamburg and Untertürkheim. The name Powertrain represents the drive system, namely the very core elements of a vehicle: engine, axles and gearbox, which come together to drive a vehicle.
From its location in Stuttgart’s Neckar Valley region, the Untertürkheim plant ships engines and part kits throughout the world. The main customers are the passenger car plants of Sindelfingen, Rastatt, Bremen, Tuscaloosa (USA) and East London (South Africa). Through its co-ordinated production system, Untertürkheim also supplies the commercial vehicle plants of Mannheim, Düsseldorf and Vitoria (Spain) with engines and part kits for vans. In addition, Untertürkheim supplies passenger car plants which are both internal and external to the group, for example plants of the Chrysler Group or also those of the Korean car manufacturer Ssang Yong.
On average the Untertürkheim plant produces engines, axles and transmissions for more than a million vehicles per year, which corresponds to a daily output of some 4,500 drive systems.
In recent years, significant investment has been made in rebuilding, extending and also modernising the plant. With its production facilities for the A-Class engines, the Cannstatt V-engine plant, the newly constructed production shops for series engines, the axle and transmission production facilities and also the light metal and iron foundry, the site is one of the most modern in the world. A new high-performance production facility was built in Hedelfingen for the world’s first seven-speed 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission, and high-end production technology has also been implemented in a new aluminium processing facility in the Mettingen division. The company has also invested in the future of the site with the construction of the training centre in Esslingen-Brühl which is able to accommodate around 1,000 trainees.
Up until 1990, Untertürkheim was not only a production plant but also the headquarters of Daimler-Benz AG. With the return of the areas of responsibility of the board of management from Stuttgart-Möhringen to the parent plant, Untertürkheim is also the headquarters of the Daimler Group.
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