DETROIT – Chrysler Group on Wednesday announced it would invest $63 million in its Warren Stamping Plant to expand capacity at the facility. The move comes after the Warren City Council's approval in May of the automaker's tax abatement request.
The investment will be used to purchase and install the latest high-speed Servo Tandem Press technology (a 180-inch press line). Construction for the new press line has already begun with production targeted to begin December 2015.
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The new press line will increase capacity by up to 12,000 hits per day or approximately 3.6 million parts per year. The plant currently operates 12 major press lines and three large progressive press lines, producing 80 million parts annually, with nearly 2,000 employees.
"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 for Chrysler Group. "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, which has been in operation since 1949, provides parts stamped from sheet metal, including hoods, roofs, liftgates, side apertures, fenders and floor pans, for a variety of vehicles built at several of the Company's U.S. and Canadian facilities including:
- Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country, Windsor Assembly Plant (Ont.)
- Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jefferson North Assembly Plant (Detroit)
- Dodge Dart, Belvidere Assembly Plant (Ill.)
- Jeep Cherokee, Toledo Assembly Complex (Ohio)
- Ram Trucks, Warren Truck Assembly Plant (Mich.)
The parts are delivered to the assembly plants, then welded together in the body shops to form the frame of the vehicle.