Chrysler's Toledo plant is "on the launch curve" as it ramps up to its ultimate goal of building 60 Cherokees per hour, plant officials say.
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TOLEDO -- Chrysler Group expects to be producing over 400 new Jeep Cherokees a day at its Toledo Assembly Complex within three weeks, and plans to be operating with a full second production shift by the end of August, plant officials said today.
During a tour of the $500 million in renovations that Chrysler made to the 12-year-old Toledo plant to build the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, complex manager Zack Leroux said the plant is "on the launch curve" as it ramps up to its ultimate goal of building 60 Cherokees per hour.
Workers are producing vehicles on one shift as new employees train for the addition of a second shift. Production of the 2014 Cherokee began June 24.
The 2014 Jeep Cherokee -- built on a Fiat-derived platform that also underpins the Dodge Dart -- is a mid-sized SUV and replaces the Jeep Liberty in the automaker's lineup. Liberty output ended in August 2012.
The Cherokee is expected to be in dealerships by the end of the third quarter.
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Chrysler's Toledo, Ohio, Jeep plant now has 959 robots that perform body and welding functions, and another 70 robots that perform painting functions, for the 2014 Cherokee. |
Chrysler will ultimately add 1,100 workers to the plant when full production of the Cherokee is under way. Much of the half-billion-dollar renovation covered additional automation and robotics in assembly areas.
The plant now has 959 robots that perform body and welding functions, and another 70 robots that perform painting functions.
Robots are also now used to align and attach the doors to the Cherokee. When the Liberty was being built in the plant last year, 18 workers attached the doors; now just 4 are needed to perform the same job.
The Toledo complex -- which also builds the Jeep Wrangler and the four-door Wrangler Unlimited in an attached body-on-frame section of the plant -- is Chrysler's most efficient assembly plant in North America, Leroux said.
The plant achieved bronze status under Fiat's "world class manufacturing" system during its last audit, the first assembly plant in North America to do so since Chrysler adopted Fiat's production processes after its 2009 bankruptcy.
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| Robots are also used to align and attach the doors to the 2014 Jeep Cherokee. Photo credit: BLOOMBERG |
The system aims to reduce waste and inefficiency in manufacturing through a collaborative, suggestion-driven process. Twice per year, plants are audited and receive scores based on a 100-point system. Leroux predicted Toledo would be on the cusp of achieving silver status during its audit in August.
The new 252,000-square-foot body shop built at Toledo Assembly will have the ability to manufacture up to four different unibody models, and has been standardized with the body shop at Chrysler's Belvidere Assembly plant, which builds the Dodge Dart, Jeep Compass and Patriot.
You can reach Larry P. Vellequette at lvellequette@crain.com.
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