Mercedes-Benz starts passenger car production in Brazil

Mercedes-Benz has started production at its new passenger-car plant in Brazil, thereby extending its worldwide production network as part of the ‘Mercedes-Benz 2020’ growth strategy.

The new site at Iracemápolis in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, which saw an investment of over BRL 600 million, was officially opened on March 23. The first vehicle to roll off the production line was a black C-Class Saloon.

The new plant in Brazil is part of Mercedes-Benz’s global assembly network. This network also includes the production facilities in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. At these locations, the carmaker produces vehicles in various extension levels for local markets.

“The opening of the Mercedes-Benz Iracemápolis plant is a further milestone in the development of our flexible and efficient production network. The global production network of Mercedes-Benz Cars comprises 26 locations which are organised in production compounds according to the vehicle architecture. With local production, we are strengthening our global competitiveness and will be closer to our Brazilian customers,” said Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management.

Betting big on Brazil
Following the production start of the C-Class at the Mercedes-Benz Iracemápolis plant, the GLA compact SUV will also be rolling off the production line beginning mid-2016. In the first stage, the plant is designed for an annual capacity of 20,000 vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz achieved record unit sales in Brazil in 2015. “We believe in the long-term perspective of the passenger-car market in Brazil,” said Schäfer. “The plant in Iracemápolis points the way ahead for our medium-sized plants in terms of layout and technology. The plant’s level of automation is significantly lower than in traditional Mercedes-Benz plants. Thereby, we achieve a highly flexible and top-quality production to satisfy local demand.”

As part of the global production network, Iracemápolis is connected to all Mercedes-Benz Cars locations around the world, allowing a location-independent access to production data and process management. Every single installation and every robot, for example, can be centrally managed and updated to new software programmes.

Commenting on Brazil’s role in the production network of the company, Philipp Schiemer, President Mercedes-Benz do Brasil, said: “Mercedes-Benz do Brasil has been firmly established here since 1956. The opening of a new assembly plant 60 years later is a strong commitment to this location and rounds off the product spectrum: this move will see Mercedes-Benz locally producing passenger cars in addition to trucks and buses.”

Workforce trained at sister plant in India among others
In terms of the recruitment and training of its workforce, the company closely cooperates with SENAI, the Brazilian national service for industrial training. A new Training Centre has been set up in Iracemápolis for this purpose. To support their training, employees were sent to other Mercedes-Benz plants where they were able to familiarise themselves with the production processes and further integrate the new location into the international plant network through personal relations. One of the leading locations here was the sister plant in Pune, India, which likewise produces the C-Class. Some employees also spent several weeks training at the Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant (Germany), the lead plant for the C-Class, and at the Kecskemét plant (Hungary), which produces compact models.