Warren Truck Assembly Plant to increase production

Chrysler Group has something to celebrate, their Ram 1500 truck is on a 52-month sales streak which is forcing the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, located in Michigan, to increase production. The plant will be building an average of an additional 100 vehicles a day or 28,585 more trucks a year to keep up with demand.

This increase in demand has forced Chryslers to rethink the assembly process at its Warren Truck location and implement significant changes. From automation modifications in the body shop to improvements to the color booths in the paint shop, changes were made across the plant. But the most extensive transformation came on the assembly line.

A critical aspect of preparing the plant for the new run rate was the establishment of a Work Place Integration (WPI) process.  As part of WPI, every operation in every workstation was reviewed, best practices evaluated and processes verified before a single vehicle was built, all while integrating the World Class Manufacturing  (WCM) methodology with a focus on improving safety, logistics and quality.

The goal of WCM is to reduce waste, increase productivity, and improve quality and safety in a systematic and organized way. WCM engages the workforce to provide and implement suggestions on how to improve their jobs and their plants. WCM was first implemented by Fiat in 2006 and introduced to Chrysler Group as part of the alliance between the two companies in June 2009.

“As we approached this opportunity to rethink our processes, we wanted to make sure we kept our focus on the customer and doing things that would continue to improve the quality of the vehicle we deliver. I think this team accomplished that task,”  said Curt Towne, Warren Truck Assembly Plant Manager.

As a result of the redesign carried out using the WPI process, material and parts that were once located line side are now gathered into kits or carriers, also known as limos. Two areas – the chassis frame line and the Motorhouse line – benefitted from the integration of limos and kits.

On the chassis frame line, limos attach to the truck frame as it moves down the line, positioning larger and heavier parts, like front and rear shocks, springs and lower control arms, in the optimal location for installation, improving the ergonomics for the operator. Limos also reduce the time spent walking to retrieve parts or tools, enabling the team to use that savings to achieve the increased production target of five additional trucks built per hour or 100 trucks per day. The easy accessibility of parts in a kit also allows operators to focus more on the proper installation of the part, thereby improving the quality of the product.

In the Motorhouse, where the engine assembly is completed before being mated to the chassis, the Warren Truck team had to figure out a way to manage the complexity of building three different engines with over 170 unique parts and nearly 70 parts that look and feel the same, but are very different—on the same line efficiently and correctly. The answer was to kit the parts and put the kit right in the truck, which reduces waste in the form of walking, a non-value-added activity.

The Warren Truck team benchmarked other facilities that incorporated kits on their engine lines, but all of the solutions implemented were designed and developed by the plant’s workforce, and built and maintained by the skilled trades.