January 10 - Mercedes Factory in Sindelfingen

This was my Mother's birthday - 1915. She was a sweet lady, and I miss her. All of my closest people - mother, father and husband share the Capricorn zodiac symbol. 

We met in Pat and Mike's apartment around 8:45 AM. Mike served fresh fruit and toasted sandwiches with egg, ham and Gruyere cheese. A nice breakfast to start the day.

We left the apartment about 10:15 AM, incurring another scrape on the side of the van - this from a post hidden in the bushes as you turn out of the driveway. The confined space of the garage and driveway are not conducive to driving a big van! 

It was a dreary day, not a ray of Sun to be seen. We drove toward Sindelfingen, and got off the autobahn in Pforzheim, which is the home town of a close friend of ours in Australia. It is also known as the "gold city", and the center of jewelry and watchmaking in Germany, and even has a jewelry museum. It has grown enormously since we were last there many years ago. I had programmed our route with viamichelin.com which told me of restaurants along the way, and we chose the Ochsen Post in Tiefenbron.

In courtyard of Bauern Stube at Ochsen Post

Interior of Bauern Stube

After we placed our orders, the waitress served a "greeting from the kitchen" - or as they say in France, amuse bouche. This was a smoked fish mouse with white beans - tasty.

Complimentary Appetizer - Fish Mousse

Meanwhile, Ron and Mike were enjoying fresh bread with home-made schmalz, also known as schweine fett (rendered pork fat).

Schmalz

Ron, Pat & Mike had Gulash Suppe

Unfortunately, the food did not measure up to the cozy ambiance. The veal schnitzel Ron and I shared was quite heavy and greasy and tasted, to me, of a liver flavor. The gulash was not to anyone's liking, but I think it is the Schwabian version, as we have been to a restaurant in Asheville NC where the gulash was similar and the owner insisted it was authentic (and he was from this area). My chicken soup had no chicken and too many wild mushrooms.

After lunch we continued to Sindelfingen where we had reservations at 1:50 PM for a tour of the Mercedes factory. 

Cars on display in Customer Center

Scale Model of Sindelfingen Factory

The tour began with a short film. We then boarded a bus to take us to the body shop which was producing C-class models. Unfortunately, photos were not permitted on the tour. It was mind-boggling to see the robots at work, and try to imagine how thousands of small parts eventually come together to make a beautiful automobile. This particular Mercedes factory is 2.9 KM square, and  has over 26,000 employees working three shifts 8-hours in the morning, 8-hours in the afternoon and then a night shift in the body shop and paint shop. They also have 1,200 young people as apprentices. They accept 200-400 apprentices each year, and have 3,000 or more applications. There are 14 other Mercedes factories in Germany - engines are made in the Stuttgart factory.

Our tour guide was not the best, as she could not seem to control the group. After repeated warnings not to touch anything, some of the Japanese people kept falling behind and touching every part in sight. 

From the body shop we took the bus to the assembly plant. This was even more fascinating. We watched a robot place the dashboard into the car, twisting and turning, and never making a mistake or scraping the paint! We saw special order roofs (such as glass roofs and sun roofs) put in place. We saw doors on conveyors above our heads, and at some point, red doors would meet up with red bodies, etc. We also saw what they call "the marriage" where the drive-train and the body of the car are merged into one unit. This station was manned by a person who inserted two bolts and a spring during the process. 

Anyone who is really interested in the Mercedes manufacturing can view a U-Tube someone created:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w221-s-class/1599918-2011-sindelfingen-plant-video.html

It was drizzling as we drove back to Baden-Baden. Stopped at the grocery store near the apartment. It's not quite like pulling into Publix parking lot! Ron stopped in a bus zone and Mike and I crossed a busy street. Ron said he would go around the block and to watch for him. He had to go through a long tunnel and then re-trace steps, so Mike and I were waiting quite awhile as Pat and Ron were circling the city.

We were hoping to find a parking spot on the street, but nothing to be seen, so back into the garage again - whoops - yet another scrape - this time the side-view mirror even though we had retracted it.

Mike prepared dinner with macaroni pasta, ground beef, au gratin sauce, and I had picked up a French baguette in the store. Everything was good - just too much.

We again went to our apartment, where card-playing is more conducive due to the configuration of the table. However, we only have three chairs (and three placemats), so Mike would transport a chair back and forth from their apartment. Played one round of Hearts and one quick game of 31. All of us were tired and ready to relax and read before 10 PM.