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Chrysler's Mack Avenue Engine Plant: New Name, New Look, New Engine

14 August 1998

Chrysler's Mack Avenue Engine Plant: New Name, New Look, New Engine

    AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Aug. 13 -- In preparing for production
of Chrysler's all-new 4.7-liter V-8 engine -- slated for the all-new 1999 Jeep
Grand Cherokee -- Chrysler Corporation's Mack Avenue Engine facility
has undergone a three-year, $930 million metamorphosis that left the ceiling
and the structural steel as the only original parts.
    The result is an engine plant that rivals any in the automotive industry
today in terms of providing workers with a healthy, clean and safe
environment.
    Mack Engine now has a new floor, roof, skylights (180 of them), electrical
system, equipment, locker rooms and a fitness center.  The renovations allow
for sunlight to wash over clean white floors in a temperature-controlled
environment and dramatically reduced sound levels.
    "One of our primary goals in developing Mack Engine was to provide our
workforce with a healthier working environment," said James Duffy, Plant
Manager, Mack Engine.
    "Everything we did was based on supporting Chrysler's Operating System
principles.  We have 180 skylights, numerous windows, white floors and
equipment throughout the plant which helps instill a feeling of cleanliness.
This should help boost employee morale and raise the level of quality."
    Even the parking lots, which are all a maximum of two minutes away from
each entrance, are strategically located to keep productivity and morale high.
    All flumes and pipes are double-contained, which also makes Mack Engine a
benchmark facility environmentally for the surrounding community.
    "The Mack Engine Plant allowed us, for the first time, an opportunity to
apply Chrysler's Operating System principles to a brand-new site," said Frank
Ewasyshyn, Vice President, Advance Manufacturing Engineering, Chrysler
Corporation.  "In the end, we saved about 50,000 square-feet of real estate.
We were also able to move production lines closer together, lay them out in a
more ergonomically-friendly way for the workers, dramatically decrease in-
process inventory and tighten up the entire manufacturing process."
    Chrysler's Operating System principles represent the joint mission of the
Union and the Corporation to implement a manufacturing system that encourages
teamwork, innovation, product and process improvements and sharing of best
practices across Chrysler's entire manufacturing operations.
    More specifically, it balances and improves upon five key areas on the
manufacturing floor:  Providing workers a safe environment; raising the level
of quality; delivering products on-time; maintaining world-class cost in the
manufacturing process; and creating an environment high in morale where
workers enjoy coming to work.
    Formerly known as New Mack, the Mack Engine facility was the original home
of the Dodge Viper.  In March of 1995, the Viper moved into the former
Champion Spark Plug Plant on Conner Avenue in Detroit, allowing for renovation
of the facility to engine production.
    Located in Detroit's Empowerment Zone, the one-million square-foot
facility began production earlier this summer.  The 4.7-liter engine's first
application is for the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is assembled at the
nearby Jefferson North Assembly Plant, and will go on sale this fall.
Currently, Mack Engine employs approximately 450 workers.
    In addition, a new V-6 engine plant is now being built right next to the
V-8 facility.  The Engine Complex represents a total investment of $1.65
billion in the City of Detroit's Empowerment Zone.  Chrysler, the largest
corporate investor in the Zone, has stimulated supplier investment by sourcing
$50 million to firms located there.