Made in Mexico?

[sosh]

Delphi designed the electrical system on the original 98ML and supplied the wiring harness for them. Do not know if they still do.

[LOCHS 2]

Andrew - 7/10/2005 1:24 PM

When I first visited the MBZ plant in Alabama it was first explained to us that the NEW goal of Mercedes was globalization.

A little research will show for instance that many aluminum blocks are cast in East London, South Africa, Mercedes E class are made in Cairo Egypt, or in Punam India, most C class are made in Brazil, Buses are made in France, there are production facilities in Spain, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, Ireland, France, several places in Asia, soon to include China, Russia, all together production facilities in dozens of countries.

In the assembly lines in Germany seems like most work force are Eastern Europeans refuges or immigrants like Turks and Albanians or Bosnians, what I wonder is how much is made in Germany, regardless, the flight of jobs to other countries is not a US phenomena alone.

Very interesting that the supply of labor has changed so much in Germany. Apparently, Germany's immigration policy has changed dramatically over the last quarter century. I have read about the aging population all over Europe and the fact that birth rates have declined very much and are even negative in some areas. It appears that some countries need more bodies to support the aging population and that means the need for more tax dollars. It's happening in the U.S. as well! People go where the jobs are at for sure even if they have to leave their own country to do so.

[redeye]

This is getting a little off-topic, but the decline in manufacturing employment is a long term trend that is as inevitable as death and taxes - it happens everywhere eventually (NAFTA or no NAFTA. This is part of the industrialization cycle.

There are many reasons for it, and the moving of production to lower cost nations is just one of them. Despite the fact that certain white-collar positions are also being outsourced these days (and even these tend to be more "commoditized" white-collar services like help-desk and back-office support), the vast majority of jobs lost this way are low-skill manufacturing jobs in textiles, clothing, toys, etc. Even electronic assembly these days is commoditized - Americans would not be buying computers for next to nothing these days if it wasn't for the shift of manufacturing to south-east Asia.

Other reasons are rapid productivity improvements (helped in part by that same cheaper information technology), consumers who spend more on services, etc. Even the US-dollar's long term strength has an influence.

Check out the following statistics - the US's loss of manufacturing jobs from it's peak is less than most other rich nations - the UK has lost more than half theirs since 1966. However, service jobs have flourished there; many of them very well remunerated - the CFA Institute lists the UK as having the highest paid financial professionals in the world, with investment professionals getting an average of $217048 per year (Switzerland is second at $170354 and the US third at $170000).

[pleubner]

The main problem with the negative population growth in germany is that it costs too damm much to have kids here! (I've got 2!)

The gov is trying to counteract this by giving incentives to those willing to have kids.... and by punishing those who don't... financially.

Who care where a Merc is made.... still nice cars wherever they come from.....

Hey these days a lambo is a VW, a jaguar a ford, etc....


cheers

[2bmj]

When I took delivery on my ML350 I noticed some tags (displaying QC info) inside the cabin with writing in German. As I was jacking up the car to change a flat a few weeks later I see "Hecho en Mexico" on the underside on some tags on the suspension.

[alroumi]

i remmember back then whEN i was in school we STUDIED POPULation growth AND DECREASE .....WE STUDIED ABOUT GERMANY IN WHICH MOST FAMILIES HAVE 1-2 KIDS MAXIMUM BECUASE IT COSTS ALOT TOPAY ,EXSPENSES ,SCHOOLS,MEDICAL INSURANCE..............

EVEN IN CHINA THEY HAVE BIRTH CONTROL POLICIES IN WHICH YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO HAVE ONE CHILD....IE ...IF ITS A GIRL YOU CAN ASK THE GOVERMENT TO ALLOW YOU TO have another try ...........becuase china alreaDY HAs a VERY HIGH POPULATION AND IN THE FUTURE IF IT GETS HIGHER THE LOCAL GV CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY To Provide for example food or raw materials and resources. [;)][?]

[Wolfgang]

sosh - 7/10/2005 11:34 AM

Delphi designed the electrical system on the original 98ML and supplied the wiring harness for them. Do not know if they still do.

They still do, sosh. From a Delphi press release:

Delphi is also responsible for the full wiring harness content on the M-Class and R-Class Grand Sport Tourer. Building and shipping assemblies through a unique manufacturing process jointly developed with Mercedes, each Mercedes passenger harness - the main vehicle body wiring assembly and by far the largest and most complex - is customer specific, with as many as 30,000 different configurations possible.

Delphi's Packard Electric division custom builds each harness within its Mexico operations to a line-item match of the exact content in every model that rolls down the line at Mercedes' Tuscaloosa, Alabama assembly plant. The M-Class start of production marked Delphi's North American debut of this custom-build process for the customer, one that allows consumers to select, in a la carte-like fashion, among the vehicles' numerous features and options to personalize their content. It also eliminates the automaker's need to stock a myriad of part numbers; the customer-specific nature of the process means there are no part numbers.

[rudeney]

Wolfgang - 7/11/2005 5:14 AM

Delphi's Packard Electric division custom builds each harness within its Mexico operations to a line-item match of the exact content in every model that rolls down the line at Mercedes' Tuscaloosa, Alabama assembly plant. The M-Class start of production marked Delphi's North American debut of this custom-build process for the customer, one that allows consumers to select, in a la carte-like fashion, among the vehicles' numerous features and options to personalize their content. It also eliminates the automaker's need to stock a myriad of part numbers; the customer-specific nature of the process means there are no part numbers.

If you ever get a chance to visit the ML factory in Alabama, you should (although right now, it’s closed due to the new models under test). There are absolutely no parts stored within the factory at all. All components for all vehicles are stored in trailers that are backed up to the hundreds of docks located all around the building. The trailers are the actual storage for the parts. The parts are loaded onto the trailer in an order determined by the production schedule, so as each part is pulled out, it exactly matches the build-order for the next vehicle coming down the line. It is simply amazing!

As for the wiring harness, you might be surprised to learn that there were only a few different harnesses made for the W163. There were different ones for right-hand vs. left-hand drive, and a few revisions for various model year changes. Otherwise, all ML’s have the same harness, regardless of options. A good example is if you pull your dash panel, you will find the wiring for options like the third-row ventilation windows and seat heaters, even if you did not buy those options. They decided it was less expensive to include some extra unused wire rather than teach the assemblers how to install different types of harnesses.

- RODNEY

[BETO]

Globalization, that's the key word.
NAFTA has nothing to do with it. I'd rather have a part made in Mexico than Taiwan, or China.No offense, but if there is an issue they can just drive down there and fix it faster, I think. Anyway, will have a gas company owned by chinese soon, so no biggie.
As far as the Tennesse decline in unemployement, that's because the population moved to Mexico[:D]
We in America depend on countries in which labor is cheaper, look at your name brand designer clothes, where are they made? Funny how japanes manufacturers are opening factories here instead of importing them.

[Wolfgang]

rudeney - 7/11/2005 10:48 AM
As for the wiring harness, you might be surprised to learn that there were only a few different harnesses made for the W163. There were different ones for right-hand vs. left-hand drive, and a few revisions for various model year changes. Otherwise, all ML’s have the same harness, regardless of options. A good example is if you pull your dash panel, you will find the wiring for options like the third-row ventilation windows and seat heaters, even if you did not buy those options. They decided it was less expensive to include some extra unused wire rather than teach the assemblers how to install different types of harnesses.

- RODNEY

Here's some info from the W163 intro manual, only about 10 harnesses, and all wires with individual labelling! That's different for the W164...