In 1997, the factory located off the "Mercedes Drive" highway exit became the first passenger car plant to be operated outside of Germany. Since that time, the company has invested more than US$ 1 billion in the facility. "The arrival of the plant improved the economy of the whole state and helped prove that we, as a heavily agricultural state, could compete on an international level and attract a top high-tech company to settle here," says Alabama Governor Bob Riley.

Indeed, a study conducted in 2007 shows just how important the Mercedes-Benz presence here has been to the state's economy. According to this study, Mercedes-Benz and the supplier firms that followed the automaker to Alabama are now directly or indirectly responsible for 40,000 jobs that generate US$ 7 billion in value added each year and pay out annual wages of more than US$ 1.2 billion. Taken together, the companies account for four percent of Alabama's gross state product, and Daimler is the state's number one exporting company.

For Daimler as well, the history of the Tuscaloosa plant reveals some major achievements. For example, no other Daimler plant in the company's history has ever taken on production of three new models in such a short period of time as Tuscaloosa did when it launched production of the second-generation ML-Class at the end of 2004, the R-Class in 2005, and the GL-Class at the beginning of 2006. The plant's workforce has risen from 1,500 in 1997 to around 4,000 today, and the current production capacity of 160,000 units per year is nearly three times as high as the original plan of 60,000 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) per year projected in the early days of Tuscaloosa. The facility has consistently produced beyond capacity over the last two years, during which time it built well over 170,000 vehicles annually.

"This organization has come a long way - from never having built an automobile just ten years ago to now building three products that are produced for countries worldwide," says Taylor, the athletic plant manager who covers several miles a day just walking around the facility. Tuscaloosa employs the most modern factory concept currently in existence, whereby supplier components are delivered to the line not only just-in-time but also just-in-sequence, which means they arrive exactly when they're needed for assembly by workers and the more than 800 robots at the plant.