MBUSI Invites SME & SAE to Tour Plant, March 25

Mercedes Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) has invited members from SME and SAE to tour the Vance/Tuscaloosa plant. Please see notes below for further registration information.

About MBUSI:
Seventeen years have passed since MBUSI came to Alabama and North America as the first Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicle plant located outside of Germany. MBUSI is now well into the second chapter of its life, creating new products and expanding its impact on the Tuscaloosa community and Alabama.

Today, Plant Tuscaloosa represents in excess of a $1.29-billion investment. MBUSI currently has just under 3,000 Team Members and a capacity to build 160,000 vehicles. Plant Tuscaloosa builds the second generation M-Class, the R-Class Sports Tourer and the GL-Class full-size SUV. Plant Tuscaloosa also now builds the innovative new clean BlueTEC diesel technology into the R-Class, GL- and M-Class SUVs assembled here.

In 2009, the ML 450 Hybrid was launched in the U.S., and it was announced that MBUSI will build the next generation C-Class, set for launch in 2014. Vehicles built at MBUSI are solely built in Alabama for more than 135 markets around the world.

Tour date: Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tour start place: Plant 1 Lobby (beside Plant 1, east side parking lot)

Refreshments: 4:45pm to 5:30pm
MBUSI Presentation - Phil Johnston: 5:30pm - 5:50pm
Tours Start: 5:50pm (3 groups - sign up 1st come 1st serve)
Tour 1 - 5:50pm start
Tour 2 - 6:00pm start
Tour 3 - 6:10pm start
Tour length approx 1 1/4 hours.

Tour registration: Registrants will be forwarded schedule of events & map to MBUSI Plant 1, East Parking lot.
Tour requirements: Please bring your own PPE safety wear which should include: Long sleeve shirts, safety glasses, hearing protection; Steel toes not required as the tour groups will stay within the tour route. Please, bring along a photo identification so that attendees can be identified according to registration; a driver license should be acceptable.

Additional note=> for any people able to arrive VERY EARLY, they may take a walk thru the MBUSI Visitor Center which is open from 8:30am until 4:30pm, Monday thru Friday.

Please, Register via the open ONLINE REGISTRATION site at http://www.inline.com/sme. Please, check the PAYMENT Box, Not Applicable. There is no fee for this event. We are in the process of modifying the online registration to meet the Mercedes tour requirements.

Questions: Please contact Blane Vines, email blane.vines@bhamfast.com .

Our April Meeting is scheduled for "the innaugural GRAND PRIX of ALABAMA", sometime April 9 - 11, 2010. Please, view http://www.barbermotorsports.com for more information about this Indy car circuit event. Tickets cost $70.00 each (advance payment) for a 3-day pass, Fri - Sun. SME and Precision Grinding will host 4 tents in the Lot D camping area for those wishing to gather together. All individuals must have a 3-day pass in order to enter the campsite area. We will post more information about the Barber Motor Sports event following the Mercedes tour.

Your SME webmaster, Brian.

Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Plant Tour

Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa shut down the plant for our Thursday evening, end of the month tour. As a result, fifteen SME members and guests were allowed to "get close to the equipment" during our tour of the mill.

Our three hosts, Jon, Dave and Johnny welcomed us into their conference room for a brief history of this Tuscaloosa coil and discreet plate mill, along with some light refreshments.

We first climbed the stairs to the top of the mill to see where scrap steel is loaded into the Electric Arc Furnace. We saw the ladle metallurgy furnace that handles 150 tons of newly melted steel. Next in line, we stepped up to the mixing and testing portion of the mill where we were surprised to find that when adding Vanadium, steelworkers throw the whole can full of these precious rocks into the mix. Our tour guide, Jon Walton, let us know that temperatures get extremely hot along the way, beginning at 2300 degrees Farenheit before cooling toward 1000 degrees upon exiting as a finished product, prior to shearing. During production, most of the workers wear heavy, heat protection gear.

We followed the stairs down the path where the steel is poured into the slabcaster. As a rule, Nucor Tuscaloosa generates a standard-sized 5 1/4" slab in order to produce a uniform beginning size for all of their finished coil and discreet plate products. Again, SME members and guests were able to take a closer look at the cooling mechanics of the slabcaster while the mill was shut down. On the other side of the mezzanine, our guides showed us a "from-the-top view" of how the Steckel Mill works these slabs until the desired 5.26" thickness and flatness is achieved. As we made our way into the plate rolling, control room, we viewed monitors showing close-ups of various coil-rolling inspection points. Here, the slab is rolled to the desired coil thickness, then sheared, coiled to a rolled size. At this point, the desired thickness coil has been produced.

Additionally, we viewed the shear lines, the discreet plate lines, and we saw both, finished coils and finished 1/2" to 1 1/2" x 96" x 480" plates. At that time, all of these plates had metric measurements and specific heat and plate numbers written on their edges.

Both, during our introduction and the closing remarks, Dave Reinhold stressed the efforts made for adhering to the highest Safety Standards in the industry. Nucor prides itself on promoting Safety and Environmental Stewardship, while producing some of the highest quality steel products in the world. Dave took the time to answer several of our questions.

We finished our evening with a seafood dinner at Wintzell's. Al Hanhauser a member from the Mercedes Tuscaloosa plant shared one of the more interesting conversations when he introduced us to the new Mercedes SLS Series production vehicles that should rival the Ford Mustang AV-X10. Further, Nathan Cox, from COX MHP, an invited guest from the Mississippi SME chapter suggested that Alabama and Mississippi continue joint tours. Nathan suggested several upcoming Mississippi plant tours that would be of interest to our members.

SME Birmingham members and guests thank NUCOR STEEL for giving us this opportunity to see their Tuscaloosa coil and plate production facilities. We are also thankful for the invitation to come back when the mill is under heavy operation in order to see the steel produced live.