A Visit to Mercedes Truck Assembly Line in Jeddah
April 17th, 2006
Today, Monday April 17, 2006, I have visited with my colleagues from Queuing System Analysis class Mercedes assembly line in Jeddah.
Dr. Mustafa Gunes arranged for the visit to give us real life examples of production line where inventory and queuing problems probably exist.
The assembly line meets the demand inside Saudi Arabia for the standard trucks. Also they export to some nearby countries like Iraq and Yemen.
We have discussed with the production manager there some issues concerning about the work culture, manpower, and the quality of the produced cars.
The manager confirmed that the quality of Mercedes is the same everywhere. Moreover, he has criticized the third world consumer’s culture which asks about the place where the product has made instead of the brand name, and how this concern became a challenge for them to market the trucks in some countries.
For me this visit gave me a real picture of what is going on the ground. I have taken many pictures representing each stage of the assembly line. Furthermore, I had an opportunity to know some figures of how many produced and to be sold.
However, I could see some problems preventing them from advancement. I will write a report about the visit to submit it to my doctor and will send a copy to the industry.