Whether by coincidence or by design, Benz No.50,000,000 is the best they have to offer.
Mercedes-Benz may be all about exclusivity, but the brand that invented the automobile has been around long enough to build quite a large volume of cars. That number may be a little higher than you might have previously thought — 50 million! This includes all vehicles produced through the Mercedes-Benz Global Production Network over the last 75 years. This presumably means that the 50 million cars made do not include any vehicles made under the Mercedes-Benz brand before or during the Second World War.
The Car In Question
Car no. 50,000,000 just so happens to be the new S-Class, but not just any run of the mill S-Class. The specific model in question is the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, which was just shown in late 2020. The car was produced in Factory 56, the high-tech Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant. Here, other vehicles like the standard S-Class, long-wheelbase S-Class are currently being made. Soon, the Mercedes-Benz EQS will also be made here.
Mercedes-Benz Global Production Network
With factories all over the world, Mercedes-Benz uses an ecosystem called MO360 to keep track of production. Everything is digitally tracked and optimised. Production capacity can be transferred from one plant to another, with vehicles using different drive types being made on the same production line. This flexibility allows them to lower costs and boost efficiencies.
More on MO360
“MO360 integrates the information from the main production processes and IT systems of the more than 30 Mercedes-Benz passenger car plants worldwide and brings together important software applications.
It delivers significantly optimised KPI-based production control, for example. It also makes individual, needs-based information and work instructions available to each employee in real-time.
One precondition for the transparency of all production processes, equipment monitoring and access in real-time is that all elements in the system speak the same language. Mercedes-Benz ensures this by comprehensive, worldwide use of the control software “Integra”: from sensor level at individual machines right up to production control, and also in its cooperation with all suppliers and system partners.
Sophisticated cloud solutions deliver scalability and allow extensive big-data processing. All this makes MO360 the key ecosystem of Mercedes-Benz Cars Operations and therefore also the new benchmark for highly digitalised automotive production.
All in all, MO360 reflects the Mercedes-Benz Cars Operations aspiration to manufacture excellent products based on outstanding production methods. The ecosystem is based on all Mercedes-Benz Cars Operations strategic pillars: driving digitalisation forward, using resources sustainably, delivering the potential to use and expand motivated employees, providing maximum flexibility in the global production network as well as outstanding processes and maximum operating safety.”
