WÖRTH, GERMANY: The increasingly complex electric and electronic equipment

of the vehicles as well as the variety of commercial vehicle models require innovative
solutions for managing the production processes and quality control. By providing tailor-
made testing and diagnostic systems, HOERBIGER Elektronik GmbH contributes to ensuring that
Operational Excellence is not an empty phrase at Daimler AG in Wörth. (Page 14)
IN THE HUGE ASSEMBLY HALL THE TRUCKS ARE ASSEMBLED BIT BY BIT. 10,000 EMPLOYEES ARE WORKING IN THE MERCEDES-BENZ TRUCK FACTORY IN WÖRTH. PHOTO: David Spaeth

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WÖRTH, GERMANY [49° 3’ N, 8° 16’ E]

State-of-the-art testing technology
The production line of the truck
from HOERBIGER in practical application factory is almost one kilometer
long. HOERBIGER’s innovative

CONTINUOUS
testing technology has long since
become standard.

TESTING ON THE The mobile systems

ASSEMBLY LINE
for final inspection, the
HOERBIGER Porty units,
are connected with the
vehicles’ interfaces for
diagnosis.

014

015

THE INCREASINGLY COMPLEX ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT OF VEHICLES

CONTINUALLY DEMANDS NEW AND INNOVATIVE QUALITY CONTROL SOLUTIONS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF TRUCKS AND PASSENGER CARS. THE INTEGRATION OF THE
NECESSARY TECHNOLOGY INTO THE PRODUCTION PROCESSES MUST BE SEAMLESS.
FOR EXACTLY THIS PURPOSE, HOERBIGER OFFERS TAILOR-MADE CUTTING-EDGE
TECHNOLOGY FOR TESTING AND DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS. IN THE LARGEST TRUCK PLANT
WORLDWIDE, THE STATE-OF-THE-ART INSPECTION SYSTEMS FROM HOERBIGER CAN BE
OBSERVED IN THEIR PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS.
TEXT: Kai-Holger Eisele · PHOTOS: David Spaeth

O
n site in the Mercedes-Benz Wörth Plant, possibly the largest truck plant in the world: Here different
truck series of the Mercedes-Benz brand are produced in large quantities. At peak times, quite a few
Unimog-based special-purpose vehicles roll off the line. The Wörth Plant employs a staff of more than
10,000 people. They ensure that the Daimler Trucks Business Unit remains a global market leader for
medium and heavy-duty trucks.

The production operation of driver’s cabs in Wörth began more than 45 years ago with approximately one hun-
dred employees. A lot has changed since then. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles have rolled off the line. And
what’s more, the interiors of the commercial vehicles have become decisively more complex. The trucks built
today are equipped with advanced electronics. In an effort to ensure that the electronics meet the high quali-
ty standards customers expect from a brand like Mercedes-Benz, innovative and flexible testing technology is
required, which ensures early in the production process that each unit can be delivered to the end customer
without defects.

More than ever, Operational Excellence is a top priority in vehicle manufacturing. When it comes to quality
control, companies have relied on the know-how and products of HOERBIGER Elektronik GmbH in Ammerbuch
near Tübingen, Germany, for quite some time—from the hardware and software to employee training. www.daimler.com

No paperwork:
the entry of the production
numbers suffices and
the system executes
the steps of procedure.
The first impression of the production line of the truck plant is impressive.
The line is over half a mile long. One of the first production steps in the
assembly of the cab is the subassembly of the cockpits. A large monitor is
suspended over the assembly station, allowing the employees to see every
step necessary at a glance based on graphical representations. Tedious
paperwork is eliminated; instead, the appropriate steps for the desired
cockpit are quickly retrieved by the system and visually displayed simply by
entering the relevant production number.
Visualization is one of the numerous key function of the Global Truck
Testing Tools, in short: G3T, support software which was developed by
HOERBIGER and is already being widely used in the plant. The prompt and
flexible visualization of the operation is crucial for error-free assembly:
Virtually every truck assembled here differs from the previous one. Individual
customer orders are commonplace in truck production, with varying wheel-
bases being the most frequent requests made by freight forwarders.
The G3T software offers assistance in particular with “flashing” and the
“parameterization” of onboard computers, i.e. installing the software on
the on-board computer and activating the desired components in the vehicle.
“An important program step for our customers is the setting of the lan-
guages available in the on-board computer,” explained Michael Strobel.
The graduate engineer focuses on production planning at Daimler Trucks
in Wörth and knows the processes and functions of the G3T down to the
last detail: “In general, we can offer almost any language to our customers
around the world. By default, we program German and English and
typically a third language, which depends on the customer‘s location.”
MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED TESTING STATIONS
The Wörth Plant has nine HOERBIGER parameterization stations alone.
Approximately one hundred testing stations accompany the remaining
manufacturing process. HOERBIGER Elektronik GmbH also supplies the
hardware and software for these testing stations.
The highest contingent of the diagnostic systems used by the truck plant
in Wörth are HOERBIGER Porty units, mobile test computers with conve-
nient touch screens. The latest model is the Porty EVO III: Weighing less
than seven pounds, the high-performance computer is comfortable for
the employees to wear during work and convenient to connect to the
vehicle interfaces. Using a wireless connection—the in-house WLAN—
One of the first steps of procedure in
the assembly of the cab is the pre-assembly
of the cockpits.
the test results of each truck in Wörth are transmitted to a data center
and stored for internal quality statistics.
The Porty is typically simply hung over the steering wheel and connected
to the on-board computer of the truck. Because of their robust design,
the Porty units are resistant to environmental stresses at the work station,
even if things should get a little hectic and rough in production.
The Porty is not equipped with just any commercially available computer:
at HOERBIGER Elektronik. The reason: “The computers in the inspection
systems must operate around the clock in production and be absolutely
stable. This applies particularly to the operating system.” Anyone who
has experienced similar problems with their home computer can easily
understand the level of expertise and commitment that is required from
the developers to ensure the smooth functioning of a test computer. From
development and programming to hardware design, approximately sixty
employees are involved in this process at HOERBIGER Elektronik. 016
017
HOERBIGER’s testing facility supplies
the vehicle cabs with voltage, so that the
diagnosis of the electrical elements can
be accomplished.

Dr. Helmut Mayer is responsible for
the complete testing technology of
the Mercedes-Benz truck production
plant in Wörth.
PART
The passenger car and truck production operations already employ the
third generation of the Porty for a wide variety of programming and test-
ing tasks. The first generation was launched in 1995, even then bearing
the Porty product name. At that time, the Porty was equipped with an
Intel 486SX processor with eight MB of memory and the MS-DOS 3.3
operating system. The latest model, the HOERBIGER Porty EVO III, sup-
ports all Windows versions as well as Linux and QNX, has up to one giga-
byte of RAM and two processors with 1.0 and 1.4 gigahertz, respective-
ly. When connected to the vehicle to be tested, the battery charges even
while in use. As a result, the Porty can be used virtually continuously.

TIES THAT STAND THE TEST OF TIME

During the course of production, the assembled cockpits are tested for the
comprehensive functional capabilities of their electronic system, even
before they “tie the knot” with the matching driver’s cab. For this purpose,
countless wiring harnesses are connected to the test stations, which then
simply follow along the assembly line on wheels. Nothing is left to chance.
While in the past completed trucks had to be painstakingly disassembled
if any malfunctions occurred, today quality control is integrated into the
production process. Speaking of aligning the production process: it saves
valuable resources. “As a result, we have achieved a reduction in rework
and better safeguards in production from defects,” stated Dr. Helmut Mayer,
who has overall responsibility for testing technology in the Mercedes-Benz
truck plant in Wörth. His excitement for the inspection systems was clearly
obvious.
Flexibility is all that matters:
the mobile testing facilities can
be used everywhere along the
assembly line.
PART OF
As part of the HOERBIGER Group, HOERBIGER Elektronik GmbH in
Ammerbuch, Germany, specializes in testing and diagnosis technology,
control technology and general industrial electronics. The company was
founded in 1985 and presently employs a staff of 60 people. The major-
ity of the hardware and software for the system solutions developed by
HOERBIGER Elektronik is produced in-house. The best selling products
are standard testing and diagnosis systems, including the present Porty
EVO III series.
PARTNERSHIP
In 1985, today’s Daimler AG was one of the first customers of HOERBIGER
Elektronik GmbH after the company’s inception. In 1995, the cooper-
ation with the Mercedes-Benz truck-production plant in Wörth began.
Since then, the Porty has been one of the key technologys with regard
to the testing technology in the plant’s truck production operation. 018
019

Due to the close cooperation between Helmut Mayer and the HOERBIGER
developers, the testing systems are individually matched to the require-
ments of Daimler in Wörth: “The high degree of customization and the ad-
aptation to the requirements of our plant is one of the strengths of the
HOERBIGER test units,” said Helmut Mayer. “In addition, they have the
necessary mechanical-technical expertise and their on-time delivery per-
formance, which is very important to us, is outstanding.” Flexibility, mobil-
ity, and robustness are key demands that Daimler places on the testing
technology. Anton Gleich added: “The individual nature of the customers’
requests must also be reflected in the testing technology. The customer
does not inquire about the high quality of hardware products and software
solutions. The customer simply expects it.”

Even in times of, or perhaps precisely because of, the global economic
crisis, steady innovation is the road to the future for large and small com-
panies. At Daimler in Wörth, the objective is “to get away from numerous
stand-alone solutions and move towards comprehensive testing methods,”
explained Helmut Mayer. Step by step, the entire plant is converting to the
G3T software from HOERBIGER, making all manufacturing data immedi-
ately available, regardless of the location and time.

The hardware itself will become even smaller and more manageable. The
challenge is to install a single test module in the vehicles at the beginning
of the assembly process, which could then be accessed at any station
using a handheld device. HOERBIGER Elektronik is a strong and reliable
partner for the future testing technology demands of their customers.