Students on the two Master’s programmes, ‘Bionics’ and ‘Mechanical Engineering’, who were taking the ‘Joining Technology’ module taught by Prof. Raimund Sicking, had the opportunity to gain an insight into the production of the ‘Sprinter’ van at Mercedes-Benz in Düsseldorf.
The Düsseldorf plant, with a permanent workforce of 6,500 employees, is the Daimler Group’s centre of excellence for Sprinter production within a global network of various manufacturing sites. For Prof. Raimund Sicking’s course on joining processes, the variety and scale of the real-world joining processes used in Sprinter production were of particular interest. Several hundred resistance spot welding systems, laser welding booths, manual welding stations and the world’s largest windscreen bonding centre impressed all the students. The current Sprinter model is manufactured in Düsseldorf. Last year, a field trip in November was not possible as the plant was closed to visitors for reasons relating to investment and confidentiality. Prof. Raimund Sicking was all the more pleased with this year’s tour: “The excursion was instructive for the students, but also very motivating. This was evident in today’s lecture, but also directly in Düsseldorf through the numerous questions about work placements and Master’s theses at Mercedes-Benz.”
