Chrysler investing $63M in Warren Stamping Plant

Chrysler Group is investing $63 million in its Warren Stamping Plant to expand capacity at the facility. The decision to proceed was made following the Warren City Council’s approval of a 12-year, 50% tax abatement in May.

“Chrysler Group wants to thank Mayor (James) Fouts and the Warren City Council for their support of this investment,” said Brian Glowiak, Chrysler Group’s Director of State Relations. “For many years, the City of Warren has been a true partner in helping the Company grow our operations at our local facilities. With the city’s support, we can implement state-of-the-art processes that will contribute to the long-term success of the Chrysler Group and enhance our presence in the community.”

The investment will be used to purchase and install a high-speed servo tandem press line with a 180-inch press line. The new press will increase the output rate, reduce complexity, and improve reliability and maintainability, all while reducing energy usage.

The press’s servo drive allows for 100% programmable control and movement of the ram speed at any position in the press stroke unlike a mechanical press that operates at a fixed speed. The tandem press is actually multiple presses in a line which use a single die in each press to perform one of the functions needed to make the stamped part

Construction has already begun and the new press line is scheduled to be fully operational in December 2015. It will increase the Warren plant’s capacity by up to 12,000 hits per day or approximately 3.6 million parts per year.

The Warren plant currently produces 80 million parts per year using 12 major press lines and three large progressive press lines, which are single presses with one slide in which a single die with multiple “progressive” stations produce parts at high speed directly from a single coil of steel.

The plant employs nearly 2,000 workers.

“As production at our Chrysler Group assembly plants has nearly tripled in the past five years, we have been pushing our stamping facilities to keep up,” said Mauro Pino, Vice President and Head of Manufacturing. “This much-needed investment for a new press line will help us continue to meet demand and maintain the quality that our stamping plants have worked so hard to achieve.”

The Warren Stamping Plant opened in 1949. It produces stamped sheet metal components such as hoods, roofs, liftgates, side apertures, fenders and floor pans, for a variety of Chrysler Group vehicles. The parts are delivered to vehicle assembly plants, then welded together in the body shops to form the frame of the vehicle.

Since June 2009, Chrysler Group has invested over $5.3 billion in its U.S. manufacturing facilities including more than $1.8 billion spent in Michigan.

As read on: http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2014/06/chrysler-investing-63m-in-warren-stamping-plant