Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s (MBSA) world-class factory in East London, Eastern Cape is building the new W206-generation C-Class Sedan for export to 80 international markets, covering nearly the entire global order book for this particular model.
The company started building the left-hand and right-hand drive variants in the second quarter of 2021 and in the fourth quarter also added hybrids, and by 15 June 2022, it had already produced 50,000 examples of the four-door Mercedes. Recently, it also added the AMG variants to its portfolio.
A plant tour gave us the opportunity to discover amazing facts and information about the 44,000m² facility first-hand from the individuals working there.
With three shifts per day running from 06h00 on Monday to 06h00 on Saturday, and over 3,348 workers on site, there is a lot going on.
500 sedans a day
Inside assembly hall number one, the floor manager explained that the C-Class is built from the rear to the front, starting its journey from the underfloor and basic frame.
When the first step is completed, it’s lifted to floor two onto a long conveyor going through multiple stations of autonomous robotic arms that fit the sides, boot, bonnet, and doors with meticulous precision while being permanently monitored for operational errors through a clever online system.
The guide explained that each vehicle travels over six assembly lines through roughly 32 stations, passing by no fewer than 600 robots that weld and bolt the various components onto the body using a “best-fit” approach.
A best-fit approach means each panel is scanned to determine its exact dimensions, and the robots then decide where it must be positioned to be within the small margins of error that Mercedes subjects itself to.
The plant manufactures most of its own components including the doors and flanks, but “hang-on” parts such as bumpers and diffusers are produced elsewhere in the country and trucked over. A small mix of components is also imported.
Before getting a bit of colour on its skin, the raw body is subject to two quality loops to check the workmanship of the robots by, for example, scanning the welds for imperfections using ultrasonic sensors.
Of course, every Mercedes needs a quality paint job, and this is the second stop on their way to becoming a driveable C-Class.
The paint shop sees the completed body rolled into a 200m-long airtight tunnel free of contaminants and debris where it starts an hour-and-a-half-long multi-step painting process.
The shop manager said since the bodies are given an “e-coat” before they come into the booth, there is no need for primer as there would usually be.
As such, the cars get a dark or light base coat depending on the customer’s chosen colour, thereafter the true colour is applied, followed by a clear coat that seals it all in.
For the first stage, robotic arms with sprayer nozzles on the front spinning at a rate of 40,000rpm cover every inch of the interior and exterior of the shell with the base tint.
For the colour coat, the nozzles are flanked by eight “fingers” which are there to apply an electrostatic charge to the paint particles to cause them to the body thereby reducing waste as well as imperfections.
After the main colour is on, the body is sent through an oven where it is heated to 60°C for five minutes to stimulate the extraction of water from the paint.
Following the first oven, the clear coat is applied by the same robotic arms and the first stage of the painting process is complete.
The freshly-painted body rounds a 180-degree bend where it is sent through another oven, this one stretching the same 200-metre length as the paint shop.
The shell is now heated to 140°C for 22 minutes before it exits the building, though the “final curing takes a few days” as a chemical reaction needs to take place for the paint to become as glossy as we see on the streets.
The colourful shell is now getting its interior panels and dash installed on its path into a third hall where it gets married to its specific powertrain that is already in line and waiting, whether left-hand drive, right-hand drive, diesel, petrol, or hybrid.
Unfortunately, we were not shown how the chassis and engines or interior bits are fitted, but watching the lifeless body being paired to an undriveable chassis and become a fully-functioning Mercedes in the process was fascinating enough in itself.
A floor conveyor carries the powertrain to meet the roof conveyor which carries the body at a specific point, where skilled employees join the suspension, frame, and engine mounts.
There are multiple such stations where workers screw and fasten different bits and pieces while the conveyor keeps moving ever forward, and for each vehicle, a small autonomous robot delivers a dedicated parts bin that carries all the parts needed to complete that specific unit.
The next assembly line is where the seats are fitted, and then it visits a specific bay where technologies such as the heads-up display, adaptive LED lights, infotainment systems, and the like are calibrated.
Before being sent into the wild, the built-up sedan completes one final inspection which is a quality-assurance test over bumpy tracks laid out on the grounds of the campus to listen for any creaks and groans.
If the tester is satisfied, the C-Class is driven onto a truck and delivered either directly to a local dealership or to the port to go to one of the many others around the world.
According to Andreas Brand, CEO and executive director of manufacturing at MBSA, the East London-based plant builds over 500 C-Class units every 24 hours and boasts state-of-the-art technologies identical to what is used for constructing the S-Class in Germany.
This works out to one completed sedan rolling through the doors roughly every 3 minutes.
Ambition 2039
As part of its mission of becoming a carbon-neutral organisation by 2039, Mercedes-Benz has installed a 360kWp solar project at its East London facility to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and Eskom’s grid.
This initiative sees a yield of approximately 500MWh per annum, which is enough to cover the factory’s “base load” for a week, said Brand.
Specifically for the new C-Class, the paint shop was also extensively upgraded and now relies on Mercedes-Benz’s tried-and-tested “Integrated Paint Process” (IP2) which saves 37% more energy than the previous method used.
The company will continue upgrading its solar capacity in the coming years to eventually be able to move off the grid completely if need be, bringing the organisation one step closer to completing its “Ambition 2039” roadmap.
Mercedes-Benz East London Plant
Keyword: Inside the Mercedes-Benz factory in East London – Photos