Auburn Hills, Mich., Sep 12, 2008  -  Chrysler LLC celebrated today the manufacturing launch of the all-new 2009 Dodge Ram at the Warren (Michigan) Truck Assembly Plant with an event involving approximately 1,000 attendees, including Jim Press, Chrysler LLC Vice Chairman and President; Frank Ewasyshyn, Executive Vice President - Manufacturing; Governor Jennifer Granholm for the State of Michigan; General Holiefield, UAW Vice President and Director, Chrysler Department; as well as Company employees and local dignitaries.

"The best way to compete in a business challenged by high gas prices and tight credit is to have the strongest pickup truck available in the marketplace," said Jim Press, Vice Chairman and President, Chrysler LLC. "With the launch today of the 2009 Dodge Ram, we have an opportunity to demonstrate what Chrysler can accomplish when we fully commit to meeting the needs of our customers. It is a very exciting, and important, launch for our organization and dealer body."

Approximately $220 million was invested in Warren Truck Assembly to prepare for production of the new Dodge Ram. The investment was supported by the Michigan Economic Development Council in multiple ways, including training funds to support the major plant and process transformation.

“Today’s launch of the all-new 2009 Dodge Ram demonstrates Michigan’s continued leadership in the global auto industry,” said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. “We are proud to support Chrysler’s commitment to invest in Michigan and create jobs for Michigan workers.”

Uncompromised Quality and Manufacturing
Much has changed at Warren Truck Assembly in order to ensure a smooth launch. Supported by more than 150,000 hours of training over the past two years, the entire organizational structure of the plant was changed to help ensure a high quality launch. The training, with a focus on customer satisfaction and manufacturing quality, enabled the workforce to shift from a traditional plant-floor model to a system of small, self-directed teams in which assembly line workers are empowered to run their operations. Plant management assumes a supporting role. The re-structuring allows for five times more quality assurance team members on the floor.

“A great deal of effort from multiple fronts has come together to create a state-of-the-art manufacturing process which will produce one of our most important vehicles,” said Ewasyshyn, who is also a member of the Shingo Prize Academy for his accomplishments in manufacturing. “We continue to increase our focus on quality during our manufacturing launches and we are seeing the positive results of those efforts.”

Already, as a result of the new processes, the teams have identified and eliminated potential customer satisfaction issues. With a renewed emphasis on in-station quality, these teams are empowered to halt the assembly line, address a potential issue, and prevent defects from flowing downstream. Quality metrics since initial Dodge Ram production are showing improved quality results.

Earliest versions of prototypes were built on Warren Truck’s assembly line to de-bug potential problems months before the production of saleable units. Even before actual truck bodies were available, the launch team took measures to prepare paint operations with ad-hoc components in order to eliminate the risk of delays. Quality Validation Stations were incorporated into the current manufacturing process and a new Quality Verification Process was put in place that will use a standardized system to protect the customer, drive corrective actions and will use problem-solving teams to identify and resolve potential quality issues that may arise in workstations.

Warren Truck underwent a  200,000-square-foot expansion that houses a completely new body shop powered by robotics that quickly adapt to almost any build plan. Enhanced processes and the installation of new technology will also benefit future product launches and product variants due to greater levels of flexibility. The system has been put into place at most Chrysler assembly plants and new model change-overs of the future will cost 80 percent less than change-overs of the past. The re-designed body shop houses all-new automation, including 270 new robots, several new conveyors and use of a faster pallet conveyance system.

Improvements were made to the final assembly area, including, for example, a new sun roof installation process as well as modifications to the seat delivery system in order to accommodate the installation of larger seats in an ergonomically correct manner. Additionally, trim shop work stations were revised to produce the new, highly-improved interior, and the chassis shop received multiple enhancements in order to manufacture new features for the truck, including the segment-first multi-link coil-spring rear suspension system with a solid rear axle.