A milestone at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth: The first new Mercedes-Benz Actros in sapphire-blue next to its predecessor (in silver) and its predecessor before (in red) is ready for its customer.

At the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant, the sapphire-blue Actros 1851 LS 4×2 was the first customer vehicle to roll off the production line.

“For the new Mercedes-Benz Actros we have developed solutions with the clear goal of making it the safest, most efficient and most connected truck ever,” said Stefan Buchner, head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. “Thanks to our expertise in the global production network of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, we are now putting it on the road. The Actros is now ready for its customers.”

As early as 2014, the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant started intensive preparations for the new Actros along the product development process using state-of-the-art technologies such as virtual reality (VR). The assembly of the vehicle was simulated on the basis of digital models in a special VR room in order to optimise the production process.

A milestone at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth: The sapphire-blue Actros 1851 LS 4×2 was the first customer vehicle to roll off the assembly line.

“We are proud to be the first location to build the new Actros and to manage the worldwide start-up as centre of competence. This gives us at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth a special role in the international production network,” explains Dr Matthias Jurytko, head of the plant. “In more than half a century the Wörth team has built up outstanding know-how. They know exactly how trucks are produced to the highest quality standards. And they have once again demonstrated this impressively with the start of production of our new flagship.”

Together with all other series at the plant, the new Actros is produced to order, on the same assembly line. In order to deal with the increased complexity, a large number of adjustments and innovations were made in the assembly itself. The new multimedia cockpit of the Actros required a significant spatial expansion of the cockpit pre-assembly. Furthermore, comprehensive adjustments were made in testing and commissioning technology and new test benches were implemented for each MirrorCam to be individually calibrated.

A milestone at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth: The sapphire-blue Actros 1851 LS 4×2 was the first customer vehicle to roll off the assembly line. Gerald Jank (2nd from left), head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Operations, Stefan Buchner (4th from left), head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, and Dr Matthias Jurytko (6th from left), head of the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant, were at the start of series production of the Mercedes-Benz flagship truck together with the Wörth team.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks‘ largest truck assembly plant was founded in Wörth am Rhein in 1963 and produces the Mercedes-Benz Antos, Arocs, Atego and Actros trucks. The Mercedes-Benz special trucks Econic, Unimog and Zetros are also built here. Up to 470 customised trucks leave Wörth every day. The facility is the centre of competence for the global Mercedes-Benz Trucks production network. It has more than 50 years of experience in CKD production, and delivers vehicle kits to numerous overseas markets for local final assembly – more than 750,000 kits to date. With 10,300 employees, the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant is the second-largest employer in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In addition to Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant, the new flagship will also roll off the assembly line in Aksaray in Turkey.