DaimlerChrysler Sets New Benchmark - 25,000 Vehicles in Five Weeks
25 August 2000
* Top quality levels achieved through flexible manufacturing enables the company to reach full capacity only five weeks after the start of production* Company saves $500 million in production launch costs and reduces model changeover time by 80 percent
* Flexible manufacturing will save $3 billion over next four years
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - With the launch of its all-new 2001 Chrysler Town &
Country, Chrysler Voyager and Dodge Caravan minivans, DaimlerChrysler Corporation
set a new industry standard -- both in the quality and innovation of its products,
as well as the flexible manufacturing systems used to ramp up production at the
Windsor Assembly Plant, original home of the minivan.
"The Windsor Assembly Plant and the entire minivan team have set a new
standard in both product quality and in speed to market," said Gary Henson,
DCC Executive Vice President of Manufacturing. "Windsor's flexibility and the
hard work of the platform engineers allowed us to achieve our high quality
goals significantly earlier, and we were able to hit the ground running."
The company's ability to work hand-in-hand with its unique Extended
Enterprise(R) enabled the manufacturing and the minivan platform teams to
achieve world class quality in prototype minivans before beginning production.
Consistent high quality and flexible manufacturing allowed production to
accelerate to maximum daily capacity in only five weeks -- another minivan
"first" for DCC and an industry benchmark for a completely redesigned product.
As of this weekend, the Windsor Assembly Plant will have built approximately
25,000 top quality vehicles in just five weeks -- an acceleration four times
faster than a typical launch.
The company celebrated the milestone today at a "minivan victory
celebration" at the Windsor Assembly Plant for its employees, which included a
skydiver "hitting the target," played by Gary Henson; a congratulatory
conference call to all 15 DaimlerChrysler component plants that supply parts
of the new minivan; presentations by executives and Canadian Auto Worker (CAW)
officials, and a fleet of minivans that opened their liftgates to reveal the
message: "25,000 in 5 Weeks!"
"Our engineers left no cup holder unturned in our focus to increase the
overall quality, safety and performance of our all-new Chrysler and Dodge
minivans," said Gordon Rinschler, DCC Vice President of Minivan Platform
Engineering. "They offer our customers unmatched refinement in terms of ride
and handling, performance and overall driving experience. The flexibility at
Windsor allowed us to validate top quality levels on the production line and
throughout the supply chain prior to launch. Achieving top quality early is
the key to being able to ramp up so fast."
"The men and women of the minivan extended family, including the platform
team, employees at Windsor, St. Louis and Graz, our unions, component plants
and suppliers, have gone above and beyond the call of duty to prepare for this
launch," said Henson. "We will take lessons learned from this launch and
apply them to future programs throughout the company."
"With Chrysler and Dodge, we've been building the world's best-selling
minivans for the past 17 years," said James P. Holden, President and Chief
Executive Officer of DCC. "In addition to having the right formula from the
beginning, our success may be attributed to offering the greatest selection of
attractive, feature-filled minivans in the marketplace. For 2001, we're
taking another giant leap in the segment we created by offering sleeker
styling, enhanced powertrains, thoughtful features and, of course, even more
industry and minivan firsts."
Some of the new features include: industry-first power up and power down
liftgate; industry-first removable, power center console; power dual sliding
doors with minivan-first manual override powered by an industry-first inside-
the-door motor; industry-first power sliding door obstacle detection system
when opening and closing; minivan-first engines with over 210 horsepower,
including the new 230-horsepower 3.5-litre engine -- the most powerful in its
class; minivan-first pop-up rear cargo organizer; minivan-first three-zone
automatic temperature control system; minivan-first split rear 50/50 Easy-
Out(R) Roller Seats; adjustable pedals; and Minivan-first wireless headphones.
FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SAVES $500 MILLION AT WINDSOR AND
$3 BILLION OVER NEXT FOUR YEARS
The flexible manufacturing launch at the Windsor Assembly Plant will
enable the company to save $500 million in production costs by reducing
downtime 80 percent and ramping up much faster during the new minivan
changeover, as well as in capital savings for future tooling.
A typical launch of an all-new, re-designed vehicle takes 110 days to ramp
up to maximum production, which results in about 75 days of "lost" vehicles
which can never be recovered. The flexibility of Windsor enabled the company
to reach maximum daily production of 1470 vehicles in five weeks. As a
result, the company avoided over 65 days of lost production during ramp up and
several down-weeks during changeover, meaning it gained about 150,000
otherwise "lost" vehicles.
Typically a manufacturer "loses" several weeks of production because it
has to stop production to install new tooling and equipment, and begin slowly
ramping up production to test its equipment, processes and product quality.
In the case of the Windsor minivan launch, 2001 pre-production vehicles
were built, tested and launched on the same assembly line with the former 2000
minivans, steadily ramping up so that down-time and volume loss were minimized
during the product changeover.
DCC's ability to apply the same flexible concepts at its manufacturing
facilities will enable the company to save more than $3 billion through 2004
product launches by reducing downtime.
WINDSOR ASSEMBLY PLANT'S FLEXIBLE BODY SHOP
In order for Windsor's body shop to build two different vehicles -- both
the 2001 and previous generation models -- the company installed tooling which
accommodates the assembly processes needed to complete two different bodies.
Once full production started on the new 2001 models, the existing tooling was
replaced with "white space" -- an open area of unused space in the facility --
which can be used to install tooling to pilot the next vehicle.
In order to accomplish this, the company first divided the tooling for
welding processes into two distinct areas: similar processes flexible enough
to accommodate a variety of different vehicles, which were in the aperture,
underbody and framing areas; and dissimilar processes that are specific to an
individual vehicle. Essentially, every vehicle, regardless of make or model,
can pass through a flexible process in the body shop; likewise, each vehicle
must pass through certain specific processes for it uniquely. It is this
flexible process that enables the company to pilot pre-production vehicles
while building the current versions.
The framing, aperture and underbody processes use palettes that can
accommodate a variety of different underbodies, which are now separate,
permanent areas that each product can pass through. Each product, including
the all-new 2001 Chrysler and Dodge minivans, has aperture and underbody
subassembly processes which are dedicated to them exclusively.
The company completed 90 percent of the tooling required for the new
models by December shutdown period last year, to ramp up for a July launch.
Tooling to support unique processes for upcoming models is already underway in
the plant's body shop. Now that the build-out is complete for the 2000 model
year minivans, new tooling is being installed in order to begin piloting the
next vehicle.
At full production, the Windsor Assembly Plant will be able to produce
370,000 vehicles annually. Approximately 6,100 team members operate on three,
seven-and-a-half hour shifts.
DaimlerChrysler Corporation's St. Louis South (MO) and Eurostar (Graz,
Austria) facilities will launch the 2001 minivan family this fall and winter,
respectively. By having representatives on the core launch team, these
manufacturing operations will be able to apply lessons learned from the
Windsor Assembly Plant launch to their respective production launches.
COMPONENT PLANTS THAT SUPPORT THE MINIVAN
Plant Location Component Supplied
Ajax Trim Plant Ajax, Ontario, Canada Trim covers
Dayton Thermal Products
Plant Dayton, Ohio HVAC components
Detroit Axle Plant Detroit, Michigan Axle, Sway Bars,
Differentials
Etobicoke Casting
Plant Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada Pistons for 3.3- and
3.8-liter minivan
engines
Huntsville Electronics Huntsville, Alabama Radios; engine,
transmission and
body controllers;
and many of the
instrument
clusters
Indianapolis Foundry Indianapolis, Indiana Engine Blocks
Kokomo Casting Plant Kokomo, Indiana Transmission and
transaxle cases
Kokomo Transmission
Plant Kokomo, Indiana Transmissions
McGraw Glass Detroit, Michigan Windshield, backlight
and front door glass;
also, bodyside
forward and rear
quarter glass
through Donnelly
Corporation.
New Castle Machining
and Forge New Castle, Indiana Front knuckle assembly
and lower control arm
assembly
Sterling Stamping
Plant Sterling Heights, Michigan Stampings and
assemblies
Toledo Machining Plant Toledo, Ohio Torque converters and
steering columns
Trenton Engine Plant Trenton, Michigan 3.3-liter (V-6) and
3.8 liter (V-6)
engines
Twinsburg Stamping
Plant Twinsburg, Ohio Stampings and
assemblies
Warren Stamping Plant Warren, Michigan Stampings and
assemblies