Factory of the year

The AMG hand-built engine production facility at Mercedes-AMG’s headquarters in Germany has been awarded the 2019 “Factory of the Year”.

A jury of experts rewarded the work of the engine Manufaktur (hand-finishing section) in Affalterbach with this coveted title, bestowed by A T Kearney, the specialist journal “Produktion” and SV Veranstaltungen.

“Factory of the Year”, which was launched by the trade journal and the A.T. Kearney business consultancy in 1992, is one of the most recognised awards for the manufacturing industry in Germany and worldwide. The jury is made up of renowned experts from the fields of industry and science. They stated: “The factory takes first place in the overall 2019 competition, demonstrating outstanding achievements in the areas of agility and digitisation.

“The ambitious management team has set clear targets for improvement and achieved an impressive leap in performance through the systematic application of automation and digitisation. Exemplary use is made of new technologies to boost efficiency, for example in the supply of materials, with digital work schedules or to check installed materials.

“The comprehensive digitisation of work processes also has a positive impact on the start-up curve (shorter familiarisation time), improves product quality and reduces the assembly time per engine.”

The new AMG four-cylinder high-peformance engine M139 is built on a new production line, delivering an output of up to 310 kW (421 hp). The completely newly developed 2ltr engine is the world’s most powerful turbocharged four-cylinder in series production. On board the A-Class, CLA and CLA Shooting Brake compact models, it enables performance and driving dynamics on a par with high-calibre sports cars.

The Mercedes-AMG team designed a completely new assembly line combining the tried and tested “One Man, One Engine” hand-finishing principle with cutting-edge “Industry 4.0” methods. In this way, the hand-finished character resulting from complete assembly of an engine by a single technician has been maintained while applying Industry 4.0 throughout all supporting processes, such as quality assurance, logistics or controlling. This has led to substantial improvements in ergonomics, workflows, quality assurance, sustainability and efficiency.