Detroit – Stellantis NV extends downtime at some of its factories, but the newest in Detroit is the three-wheel drive Jeep Grand Cherokee L.
Mack Assembly Plant is the first new car assembly plant in the city in 30 years. The brightly lit 3 million square foot factory began production in March and operates three shifts five days a week with approximately 4,900 people, including 2,100 new Detroiters.
“Some of them had not seen parts before. These guys worked so well with me,” said Jack Fox Jr., a mechanical engineer in charge of the tools used to install the chassis and driveline. “I’ve worked everywhere – St. Louis, Belvidere – this is a great workforce here.”
Giving Detroiters the first chance at a job at the new plant was part of the transatlantic carmaker’s agreement on community benefits to build the $ 1.6 billion facility next to the North Jefferson Assembly Plant, home to the two-row Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUV: ar, on the east side of Detroit.
As a result of the new hires, the workforce is younger than in most facilities. The average age of employees is 40 and the average experience is five years. The more time car workers spend with the company, the more pay they get.
Benny Wilkinson, 37, is one of Detroiters’ employees. He is now working on the final stages of the line. He went to the facility his first week there.
“It struck me a little that everything is built new,” Wilkinson said. “There are many familiar faces directly from within the community. I feel a little more comfortable in this job that I can be in it for quite some time. It’s not part time or on call, not really constantly knowing if you can give. It is a great thing for me and my family. “
Mack will also build the next-generation Grand Cherokee when it is shared later this year, including a plug-in hybrid model. But the larger L version represents wide space with the potential for significant profit margins
This makes it a priority for Stellantis as it maneuvers through the unprecedented, pandemic-induced shortage of microchips used in automotive electronics from automated driving functions to heated seats. At the same time, other facilities are temporarily – and in one case indefinitely – laying off hundreds of workers.
The Jeep Cherokee crossover plant in Belvidere, Illinois, will have its second shift cut next month; it and Chrysler’s minivan plant in Windsor, Ontario, and the Jeep Compass crossover plant in Toluca, Mexico, will be down for the rest of June, the company said on Thursday. Belvidere was previously scheduled to close for the week of June 28, and Windsor’s vacation was scheduled for the week of June 21.
“Stellantis continues to work closely with our suppliers to mitigate the impact of manufacturing caused by the various supply chain problems facing our industry,” said spokeswoman Jodi Tinson in an email.
Jefferson North last month had its crews reduced due to supply chain restrictions, but Mack continues to drive at full tilt.
The plant is made up of two buildings that previously produced engines. About 700 of the employees still work here. However, working with the existing site came with its challenges, says Eric Goedtel, senior manager for civil engineering.
“We were really limited by the size of the site and tried to make sure we could fit everything here,” he said.
The city of Detroit acquired 215 acres to allow the automaker to expand the property, mostly for parking, a move that has caused complaints and protests from some residents, especially along Beniteau Street, who want the company to do more to address neighborhood problems.
Vehicles begin in the 650,000-square-foot body shop, the former Mack Engine II building that had been idle since 2012. The building houses 578 robots that do most of the work of assembling the vehicle’s steel and aluminum structure, a two-hour process .
The vehicles then go to the painting workshop, a new 800,000 square meter, five-storey building built where an employed parking space used to be. This fully automated process takes 12 hours and uses 124 robots. The workers are looking for shortcomings in the end. The plant can paint up to 11 colors at a time, and 40% of the vehicles are two-tone and have a black top, says Michael Brieda, factory manager.
The last building is the General Assembly, the former Mack Engine I building that built Pentastar engines until December 2019. Production and equipment moved to the Dundee Engine Plant. Most of the line workers are in this 1 million square meter facility that has a line that winds back and forth.
Here, Goedtel said that the company encountered certain challenges. To move the carriers that hold the vehicle down the line from the end to the start again, the company had to push up the roof in an area. The roof compartments were also at some points too low for clearing, and workers had raised them to 122 points.
“It was very laborious,” Goedtel said. – It took a lot of work to get it done.
To assemble the vehicles, the company found ways to use robots to help with some of the more difficult tasks. A robot now lifts a box with the vehicle’s wire into its body as it travels along the line.
“We saw this as an opportunity to alleviate ergonomic problems when we installed that cable harness,” said Mason Trang, a timing specialist. “As the vehicles become more advanced, the wiring becomes a little bigger and heavier. We implemented robots so as not to have to load that heavy wiring harness into the vehicle.”
Other additions focus on quality. A camera-and-laser-gap-and-flushing technique that measures gaps between panels – commonly used in the body shop – now also controls vehicles at the end of the line.
The company also installed its second test task with buzzing, squeaking and rattling. The 2,000-foot-long track drives each vehicle through potholes, speed bumps, cobblestones and other elements to test for sound insulation and loose fasteners. The Ram 1500 truck factory in Sterling Heights also has one. An electronic shaker amplifier that tests for even more aggressive conditions. It is the first of its kind in North America, according to the company, because most people use hydraulics.
“It’s quiet, low energy and low cost,” said Ray Peterson, product manager for Grand Cherokee L.
bnoble@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @BreanaCNoble