0 pc attrition among Mercedes-Benz India workers.

Mercedes-Benz makes some of the best cars in the world. The Mercedes racing team is making a regular habit of winning all the Formula One races. Back home in India, Mercedes-Benz India is surging ahead with double digit growths on the sales front. The year 2014 will see 10 new models from the company. It has commissioned a unique ‘Roof Top Solar Plant’ for power generation at its plant in Chakan near Pune in the state of Maharashtra.

A few days back it introduced for the first time body manufacturing for the S-Class in India. It also rolled out the S-Class 350 CDI priced at Rs 1.07 crore, ex-showroom Pune.

But what’s more interesting is the fact that the company has zero percent attrition rate among its blue collar workers. Yes, zero percent, that too in a country that is plagued by labor unrest and trade unionism. Motown India correspondent made a round of the Chakan plant and witnessed workers engrossed in their respective work at different places of the assembly line. “The workers are constantly trained to work on the assembly line and are made to do different tasks. Thus a worker who fits a head lamp, for example, does not do that for the rest of his life, he is trained to move around the car on the assembly line to do other jobs too,” said a company representative. He affirmed that the workers are more than willing to do their work at the plant and are extremely content with what they are doing. The result is: 0pc attrition among the blue collar workers.

Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India was rather proud of the fact that his company saw no attrition among the blue collar workers. He mentioned this point during the launch of the new S-Class at company headquarters in Chakan.

“The team working on the production of the new S-Class 350 CDI comprises the most experienced colleagues at Mercedes-Benz India and they are extremely proud of their accomplishment in producing the S-Class over the years,” he said.

 The Chakan facility is located in an area of 100 acres of land. The production capacity of the Chakan plant will soon be doubled by the year end to 20,000 units annually. The plant currently manufactures the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, E-Class, S-Class sedans and the ML-Class and GL- Class SUVs. Mercedes-Benz India also operates a technologically advanced paint-shop located within its Chakan facility.

The paint shop has an annual capacity of 20,000 units which is extendable to 40,000 units annually.

File photo of Mercedes-Benz India plant / Photography: Mohd. Nasir