Two Automotive Plants in Great Lakes Region Receive Over Half a Billion Dollars in Upgrades

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). DaimlerChrysler Corporation (NYSE:DCX) (Auburn Hills, Michigan) is in the early planning stages of investing over half a billion dollars at its two plants in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The Sterling Heights assembly and stamping plants, which produce the Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Sebring, will be retooled to assemble future mid-sized vehicles. If these projects are approved, DaimlerChrysler will invest $506 million in these plants.

Tentatively, construction is expected to begin on both projects in the summer of 2005 and be complete in late 2006, in order to prepare for a launch of the 2007 Sebring and Stratus replacements. The retoolings will convert in the Sterling Heights plants into flexible manufacturing plants, and will allow those plants to have the capability to produce the Dodge Caliber, if needed. Initially, no new jobs are expected to be created, but the investments will insure the retention of over 5,000 jobs directly with DaimlerChrysler and, indirectly, another 20,000 jobs in Michigan.

These DaimlerChrysler projects are part of 186 automotive projects that Industrialinfo.com is tracking in North America, as part of its Automotive Database. Click on the image at right to view a breakdown of planned automotive industry projects in North America scheduled to begin construction in 2005 and beyond.

The assembly plant will receive $278 million in improvements, including retooling of the body shop and improvements to the paint shop and assembly areas. Planned improvements include the installation of new tooling and approximately 620 welding and material handling robots. In the stamping plant, another $228 million will be invested to replace fifty material handling and welding robots and implement state-of-the-art processes and capabilities, such as new lean die standards and Common System Architecture (CSA) lines, which are the primary components responsible for converting the plants to flexible manufacturing. The CSA lines permit greater flexibility by allowing multiple products to be welded and assembled on the same line, while concurrently reducing waste and improving quality. CSA lines can provide for the production of multiple products, while at the same time producing one pilot product, resulting in considerable efficiency, compared to the one line, one product standard of the past. The new tools and process are expected to result in a 45% cost savings over current operations.

DaimlerChysler products are manufactured in seventeen different countries on six continents.. It employs almost 400,000 people around world and over 37,000 in Michigan. DaimlerChrysler has promised sixteen new vehicles by the end of 2006 and expects to invest over $48 billion between 2005 and 2007 globally. For more information on automotive projects by DaimlerChrysler and its competitiors, check out Industrialinfo.com's Automotive Database.

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