Resource Integration Management: A Case Study of Mercedes Benz

This research paper examines the resource integration strategies employed by Mercedes Benz, a global automotive leader. It delves into the company's scheduling practices, focusing on the optimization of production processes to meet deadlines and maintain quality standards. The paper analyzes key scheduling objectives, including Overdue Shipment Rate (OSR), Average Delivery Inventory (ADI), and Total Switch Time (TST), and explores how these metrics contribute to efficient resource allocation. Additionally, the paper discusses the company's supply chain management (SCM) approach, highlighting its efforts to reduce transportation costs and optimize delivery times. Through a comprehensive analysis of Mercedes Benz's resource integration practices, this paper provides insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by large-scale manufacturing companies in the automotive industry.

Resource Integration Management
AMRI700

Contents
Research Question.................................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................2
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Application of Resource Integration......................................................................................................3
Analysis of Results, Critique and Recommendations............................................................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7

Research Question
How will Mercedes Benz accommodate the advanced futuristic technology in the production
facilities and automobiles?
Mercedes Benz is a Global automobile production company. The organization vends top class
vehicles with latest technology implementation in their products. The company has collaborated with
Google and other market leaders for their technical support.
Benz always seeks for best technological implementation in their products either they are user
experience (car interaction with the user like – cockpit experience) related advancement or
mechanical (car mechanics) advancement.
Advanced technical implementation of the company is leading it into the production of more future
scoped cars like electrical cars that are technically advanced and healthy for the global environment
(Hanley, 2018).
Executive Summary
The industrial research paper critically reviews on the problem related to the understanding of
scheduling and its implementation in the production of automobiles by Mercedes Benz and how the
company manages the resources in between the manufacturing.
But to achieve a number of goals the company has to implement the course of scheduling techniques
for utilizing and allocating the resource like time, money, labor etc., through the optimized
mechanism which is included in the scheduling process. For this scheduling component related to
scheduling like Overdue Shipment Rate, Average Delivery Inventory and Total Switch Time are
mentioned in the report.
Introduction
Mercedes Benz is global class leading automobile company. The company is the division of Daimler
AG which is a German company. The company is well renowned for its automobile production of
luxury vehicles – cars, buses etc. Mercedes Benz gets its origin from Karl Benz who built first petrol-
powered car further he patents the technology in 1886. The first Mercedes Benz automobile was
launched in 1901 by Daimler Motors Corporation ("Mercedes Benz Story - Profile, History, Founder,
CEO | Famous Car Manufacturers | SuccessStory", 2018).
Mercedes Benz is a great example of luxury and quality of its productions. The company initially
compromised its quality of production in late 90’s but the company later in the mid of 2005 regained
its quality criteria and stood from its 25th to 5th rank in the worldwide ranking of quality automobiles.
Currently, the company is among the top competitors between automobile companies.

The existing methodology of Mercedes’s MPS (Mercedes Production System) is a great epitomize
solution for the development and production of Mercedes Benz legacy. Daimler Benz and Chrysler
introduced a unified plant production system in 1988. The company got awareness about the
production system proposed by the Japanese automotive industry Toyota. Toyota runs on its Toyota
Production System (TPS). It was after the world oil crisis in 1980 Toyota’s TSP system efficacy
production system.
The company uses its MPS (Mercedes Production System) for continuous production and to fulfill the
resource integration it follows some of the advanced techniques proposed by the MPS system
(Kimberley Editor, 2018). The company follows the trails of 5 step program in its production field
that are
 Work Structures
 Standard Production
 Firm quality process
 Just-in-time inventory
 Improvements
Application of Resource Integration
Scheduling
Mercedes Benz is a big operational manufacturing company. The company involves hundreds of tasks
and processes. Scheduling of these tasks is the key and most important part of Mercedes Benz. The
production in the company must be a continuous flow of delivery. The production plant considers the
following three objectives which have to be fulfilled –
 On time shipment: On-time shipment is the best practice of delivering the product or service
which will lead the manufacturing system to continuous production and supply of products. OSR
(Overdue Shipment Rate) should be minimized for a better approach.
 Product Quality: A consistent flow of similar product can lead to better quality of the finished
product but if there are switchovers in the same production line then this can lead to quality
issues.
 Inventory level: The final product delivery schedule depends on the level of in-time inventory.
The company must fulfill the inventory requirements and proper inventory levels will result in
lower OSR (Ben Hmida, 2018).
Scheduling Problem
Scheduling is the critical task division according to the factor of time. Scheduling is the main part of
manufacturing products like Mercedes Benz. Mercedes Benz has a number of products and these

products have subparts, the company’s manufacturing department have a number of production field
line which incorporates in the subparts manufacturing. These subparts are produced on different lines
and each line can produce different parts also. So there is the need for scheduling of such problem.
For solving the problem of scheduling the three objectives have to be minimized which are:
minimizing OSR, minimizing total switch time, minimizing inventory.
I. OSR is the statistic value of demand which is not fulfilled by the production line as per the
schedule proposed by the manufacturing department. It can be accounted by the ration of overdue
amount of shipment to total demand (Ben Hmida, 2018).
Here, QOi = quantity of overdue product i
D¿ = demand of product i in day t
O¿ = demand of product i that cannot be produced on time in day t
Qikt = production quantity of product i on line k in day t
I i ,t = inventory of product i in day t
i = product index
t = day in planning horizon (t = 1, …, T)
II. ADI (Average Delivery Inventory) provides the results of a total average daily number of finished
products before the scheduled date. It is defined as the ratio of total inventory by Planning
Horizon (T).
Here, k = processing line index (k = 1, ..., N)
III. TST (Total Switch Time) is the tool used for the quality check of the product for every switchover
of the product (i.e. can lead to poor quality of the product).
Here, W kt = times of product switchovers on line k in day t

Table 1: Example of inventory levels and line capabilities to do the work
Products Max. Inventory The rate of Production by Line (1000 units per day)
A B C D
Transmission Strings 250000 30 20 15 0
Transmission Cabin 15000 10 0 9 12
Gear Set 17000 25 20 10 4
Hydraulic System 1800 10 9 11 3
Panel 20000 26 35 15 10
Analysis of Results, Critique, and Recommendations
Scheduling the tasks involved in the production line can manage the most optimum production
delivery. Mercedes Benz follows the best practices to fulfill the demands of in the production line
without compromising the quality criteria proposed by the company.
The scheduling of the tasks involved in the Mercedes Production System (MPS) includes various
components that have to be implemented. Scheduling will critically optimize the production in the
meantime from the manufacturing department.
Critical topics of scheduling values like OSR (Overdue Shipment Rate), ADI (Average Delivery
Inventory) and TST (Total Switch Time) are discussed. In Table 1 Inventory lines and line
capabilities are analyzed. In the table product capability which is the inventory level handled by the
company and rate of production per line are mentioned.
Implementation of risk analyses while handling the scheduling is highly recommended. Schedule risk
assessment is the part in scheduling where the most important approaches are analyzed and assets &
resources are evaluated like validating the best activity method like (CPM), the probability of risks
related to long-run processes, risk eradication techniques adopted etc. (Hulett, 2018). A better
approach to assignment problem and Supply chain methods can also optimize the process of
scheduling in the company.
For Supply Chain Management the Mercedes Benz executes various logistics approach for reducing
the transportation cost by 20% per each vehicle. The company is adapting the solution of making new
logistic centers near the manufacturing sites for reducing the delivery time of the products and
materials (Staff, 2015).

Conclusion
Mercedes Benz is a global leading automobile company which has been surveyed in this research
paper on the bases of the practices and implementation techniques adopted. The need for a company
to indulge the latest advanced futuristic technology in its production has been discussed. The
industrial research paper is the complete analyses of the need for resource integration via the process
of scheduling the events involved in the production field.
The scheduling objectives that can be advantageous to the company goals within the fixed deadlines
are reviewed in detail. Incorporation of OSR (Overdue Shipment Rate), ADI (Average Delivery
Inventory) and TST (Total Switch Time) can lead to a better development rate in the phase of
scheduling the tasks.
SCM management of Mercedes Benz is gradually increasing the level of the company to a greater
extent and new achievements are accomplished by the company.

References
 Ben Hmida, J. (2018). Production scheduling for continuous manufacturing systems with quality
constraints. Taylor & Francis Online. Retrieved 23 April 2014, from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21693277.2014.892846#
 Hanley, S. (2018). Mercedes Plans Battery Electric EQ S By 2020 |
CleanTechnica. CleanTechnica. Retrieved 23 April 2018, from
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/09/mercedes-plans-battery-electric-eq-s-by-2020/
 Hulett, D. (2018). Project Schedule Risk Assessment. Pmi.org. Retrieved 23 April 2018, from
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-schedule-risk-assessment-2034
 Kimberley Editor, W. (2018). Introducing the Mercedes Production System. Adandp.media.
Retrieved 23 April 2018, from https://www.adandp.media/columns/introducing-the-mercedes-
production-system
 Mercedes Benz Story - Profile, History, Founder, CEO | Famous Car Manufacturers |
SuccessStory. (2018). Successstory.com. Retrieved 23 April 2018, from
https://successstory.com/companies/mercedes-benz
 Staff, M. (2015). Mercedes Reorganizes Its Supply Chain Network to Reduce Auto
Costs. Material Handling and Logistics (MHL News). Retrieved 23 April 2018, from
http://www.mhlnews.com/global-supply-chain/mercedes-reorganizes-its-supply-chain-network-
reduce-auto-costs