Chrysler Technical Center (CTC) and Auburn Hills Complex

photography by Carolyn Allmacher (except the interior photo)

The Auburn Hills Complex is generally known to people outside Chrysler as the Chrysler Technical Center, or CTC, though only one tower is the Technical Center. The other tower is the executive tower, which, in 2005, housed over 1,100 people in various corporate support and leadership roles.

The Chrysler Technical Center itself held over 8,400 employees in 2005, and was the center for engineering, design, procurement and supply, and manufacturing processing. The complex also includes a pilot production plant, scientific test facilities, a powertrain testing center, full-size wind tunnel and a vehicle evaluation road. At any given time during the day, according to our sources, cars not yet shown to the public can be seen quietly driving through the basement; trash bins may contain secret prototype engines waiting to be recycled. Massive outdoor tanks hold water and fuel.

Reportedly, the building was originally supposed to house the technical staff only — providing a major competitive advantage by consolidating all the engineers, moving them away from the disruptions of managers, and assuring better communication between departments. The CTC was one of the keys to moving Chrysler from the old silo system to a new team system, where engineers would work together across disciplines to make the best possible cars and trucks. The system worked well until 1998 or so.

The testing center, where the new test cells are, is particularly cleverly designed. While the old engine test cells (one of which is displayed in the museum, which is part of the complex) had minimal safety and automation features, the current test cells are highly automated, very safe, and even have their own foundation, separate from the rest of the building, to avoid passing along vibration to the rest of the complex.

Many have described the interior of the CTC as being like a huge, glitzy shopping mall. The main hallway is lined with glass, so you can see into various offices; large numbers of vendors wait in the lobby to be admitted. Everything is huge: the parking decks, the roads around the complex, the atrium, the hallways.

Hidden away out of the mainstream is a test factory, like the “Checkerboard Square” set up at Belvidere. This area lets the manufacturing engineers figure out the ergonomics and technical issues surrounding construction of new cars in advance, at a much lower cost than planning it out on computer models, building, and then moving things around as needed. It lets Chrysler get over manufacturing hurdles before ordering tooling, and before shutting down a factory for changeover to a new model.

The Chrysler Technical Center remains a strategic asset to the company; its extensive testing centers, all-under-one-roof elements, and other components are helping Chrysler engineers to dig their way out of the current morass.