Mercedes to Invest $1.3 B in Alabama Assembly Plant

Oct 01, 2015

Mercedes-Benz said that it would be investing $1.3bn in its Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama to increase production of its next generation SUVs.

The investment is expected to allow the company to be more flexible and efficient in the production of the SUVs which will include hybrid versions as well.

Tuscaloosa plant's expansion will include creation of a new 1.3-million-ft² Body Shop, revamped SUV Assembly Shop, and upgraded logistics and IT systems.

The Body Shop will now have a modular approach of manufacturing with the usage of the latest lightweight technologies with innovative joining processes.

Mercedes' present SUV Assembly Shop will be expanded by 139,930ft² and will include a flexible "marriage" station, where the body of the vehicles will be merged with the powertrain, facilitating production of a wider range of vehicles.

The investment will also result in the creation of 300 new jobs in the facility which was founded in 1995.

Mercedes-Benz US International CEO Jason Hoff said: "With this expansion and modernization of our plant, we will create 300 new jobs and continue the success story of Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa.

"Our entire team is proud to reinforce the State of Alabama's growing reputation as a leader in high-quality automotive manufacturing."

The German automaker said that the plant would offer location-independent access to data and process management for Mercedes-Benz cars locations around the world.

It will also use Big Data applications for intelligent analyses and for an improvement of the production processes.

Automakers are embracing Big Data to shape future vehicle designs, as real-world data collected from billions of miles driven can be used to influence safety, aerodynamics, performance, power algorithms and other fundamental elements of the vehicle.

Non-automakers like IBM and Deloitte have introduced Big Data based solutions for automakers.

Source: Automotive Business Review