Chrysler’s Belvidere Assembly and Stamping Plant

This plant, which is right off Route 90 and Route 20 in Illinois, was Chrysler's only small car production facility in the United States after 1993, which nearly 1 million Neons built at the plant from 1993 to February 1998. Ironically, the Belvidere Assembly Plant had come on-line in 1965 with production of full-sized station Plymouth Fury and Dodge Monaco wagons. In 1969, the plant was making the Fury and full-sized Dodge Polara.

The plant was named after the city it was in, with no relation to the Belvedere car, which was reportedly named after the hotel. It made rear wheel drive cars until 1977; after that, it switched to making L-body cars, including the Horizon, Omni, O24, TC3, Charger, Turismo, and Duster. A single year after Chrysler’s cheapest models left the plant, the corporation’s priciest cars moved in: the Imperial, Fifth Avenue, New Yorker, and Dynasty. They were succeeded again by the corporation’s least expensive car, the Neon, which was replaced by the entry-level Caliber, Compass, and Patriot.

When making Omnis and Horizons, the Belvidere plant used Simca engines (designed while under Chrysler ownership); these were built in Poissy, France, tested in Paris, and shipped to Belvidere, where they were “dressed” with a carburetor and accessories and installed in the L-bodies.

Employees from the Belvidere Assembly Plant took part in a 90-day, one-million mile Neon ride-and-drive verification program that began in September 1993. One hundred volunteer assembly workers rotated through 50 cars every day - in two eight-hour shifts - over a variety of road conditions. The goal was to put at least 12,000 miles on most of the cars, up to 36,000 miles on as many as possible and 100,000 miles on at least two of them, and to find what would fail.

Plymouth, Dodge	1965-77
Chrysler	1973-77
Horizon / Omni	1977-87
O24, TC3, Charger, Turismo, Duster	1979-1987
Dynasty/New Yorker/Imperial/Fifth Avenue	1988-1993
Neon	1994-2005
Caliber, Compass, Patriot	2006-??

In late 1993, Belvidere had 3.3 million square feet of floor space covering 280 acres. The plant began Neon production on November 10, 1993, with numerous manufacturing firsts. 3,250 hourly and 250 salaried employees were on staff, with an average age of 48 years and 23 years average length of service; their combined payroll was $231 million in 1992, when they built 125,000 cars. At the time, 380 robots were used; the plant had built 5.9 million vehicles before starting on the Neon.

Production of the Dodge, Plymouth and internationally-sold Chrysler Neons began in November 1993. The plant employed 3,480 people and produced approximately 1,064 Neons daily. Neons were also made in Toluca, Mexico.

With the Neon, Chrysler’s Belvidere satellite fascia plant was designed and supported by the Davidson division of Textron. Numerous supplier suggestions resulted in savings of millions of dollars in Neon production; these are detailed in our SCORE page.

Before the Neon went into production, a team of manufacturing, engineering, and procurement people visited key suppliers to make sure they were ready to launch. A materials management work team was set up; they replaced the cardboard boxes originally used to receive parts with reusable plastic containers that were shipped back to suppliers when emptied. Overall, the plant eliminated 95% of the waste materials, reducing environmental impact and saving the plant hundreds of thousands of dollars over time. Parts were also less likely to be damaged in transit.

The “Checkerboard Square” set up at Belvidere let 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. Chrysler can get over manufacturing hurdles before ordering tooling, and before shutting down a factory for changeover to a new model.

In December 1997, a new $45 million Verson Type A+ stamping press began operation at the satellite stamping facility which adjoins the main assembly plant. In summer 1997, a new $45 million Powder Anti-Chip paint system was added.

The Verson Type A+ stamping press was the largest manufactured in the United States. Installing the press, which was the size of 12 locomotives, required an additional 60,000 square feet to the plant at a cost of $10 million. Initially, the new press was used for stamping front and rear Neon doors; it was to be used later for stamping full side-aperatures and fenders for a different model.

The Powder Anti-Chip paint system allowed for improved chip resistance, durability, and overall quality and finish on all vehicles produced at the Belvidere plant. A building addition of 72,000 square feet was required for the $45 million investment that upgraded Belvidere's paint system to state-of-the-art paint technology. This process, coupled with the water-borne base coat system already in place, made Belvidere one of the most environmentally-friendly automobile plants in the nation, at the time. These new paint processes have greatly reduced the VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions and waste by-products associated with earlier paint systems.

	U.S. Neon Sales			Belvidere Production
	Dodge	Plymouth		Dodge	Plymouth
1995	142,853	114,311		?	?
1996	131,343	103,813		133,936	105,565
1997	115,110	82,881		124,831	86,656
1998	129,875	87,066		117,964	78,533
1999	112,236	71,561		165,229	66,905
2000	113,381	49,951		179,039	49,623
2001	107,299	30,054		145,718	10,756
2002	126,118			156,988	12,054
2003	120,101			150,957	1,859
2004	113,476			139,004	1,844

Patriot, Compass, and Caliber production

The Dodge Caliber SRT4, Caliber, Patriot, and Compass are built at the Belvidere Assembly Plant on the same assembly line. The plant underwent a multimillion-dollar upgrade to prepare for Caliber production, including a new body shop and other upgrades; the robotic body shop can build the Dodge Caliber SRT4, Caliber, Compass, Patriot, and one other vehicle with no negative impact on production. Robots can make necessary tool changes automatically within cycle time, in about 45 seconds.

In 2005, the 3.7 million-square-foot Belvidere Assembly Plant had around 1,700 employees represented by United Auto Worker's Union Locals 1268 and 1761.

Reliability was a major goal for the Caliber launch; the Belvidere assembly plant was switched to empowered-team-based production, during the two-month-long changeover at Belvidere from Neon to Caliber. In the launch review, suppliers were on hand to address quality concerns. Even when Chrysler factories were running at high quality levels, supplier issues had given Chrysler vehicles including the Belvidere-built Neon a less than stellar reputation.

The first 2007 Jeep Patriot came off the assembly line of the Belvidere plant on December 20, 2006. "We are now seeing the results of our flexible manufacturing strategy that leads to a competitive advantage for the Chrysler Group," said Frank Ewasyshyn, Executive Vice President - Manufacturing. "Thanks to Belvidere's ability to build multiple models off one assembly line, we expect the production of three all-new models to cost significantly less than the initial investment we made in the plant to build one product."

New ways to make the required amount of stamping dies saved the company up to 60% on the cost of dies, and new methods of material flow had to be set up. The inbound parts sequencing center (originally operated by TDS/US) managed more than 1,799 different parts, providing parts metering, kitting, and container management, and delivering complete subassemblies to the manufacturing floor as they were needed.

The sequencing center was originally operated by TDS/US but “dakotaquadsport” wrote that it is now run by Syncreon Automotive, the result of a merger between TDS and Walsh Western. “Syncreon also runs a host of other sub-assembly and sequencing facilities for Chrysler, including the reverse sequencing center in Memphis (Memphis Core....talk about a ton of engines, transmissions, and other parts stocked up in that place that are all bad).”

A tunnel connected the 500,000 square-foot sequencing center to the assembly plant. TDS/US put parts in kits, and delivered them to the tunnel for Belvidere employees to transport. This reduced costs an estimated 12% per year; and, by carefully managing the material flow at the plant, the sequencing center helps workers focus on manufacturing quality, and provides a poka-yoke system.

A new workplace organizational model, coined smart manufacturing, increased the flexibility of the Belvidere workforce, while fostering greater creativity and innovation from plant employees. In addition to extensive training, the new workplace model lets employees design their own work stations. These changes provide a better work environment for employees and give increased support to assembly line team members.

Chrysler Belvidere Assembly Plant: Environmental Impact Reduction

To reduce its environmental impact, the 2000 Neon used waterborne paint, molded-in color fascias, asbestos-free brakes, and door water shields made from recycled plastic. Pollution prevention was incorporated into Neon's planning process, and included steps such as:

• Sheet metal "home" scrap was recycled from the plant; plastic fascia scrap was recycled back to the materials supplier as regrind, saving 36 tons annually in landfill waste; and the instrument panel and door panels were designed to facilitate dismantling and recycling.
• The steering wheel rim was molded vinyl which requires no CFC agents; using other molded-in-color plastics eliminated CFC agents. Belvidere manufacturing operations were CFC-free.
• Groups of vehicles were painted the same color to minimize the use of color-change purge solvents.
• Warm-water base coat purge replaces solvent-based material, eliminating 20 tons of VOC emissions per year; water-based sound deadener eliminated another 170 tons of VOC emissions per year.
• All main process waste lines, sumps and manholes were lined to prevent contamination of the soil.
• An innovative paint sludge handling system reduced paint overspray sludge volume by more than 90%.
• Paint applicators were equipped with in-line point flowmeters tied into the plant's computer tracking system to monitor usage continuously, quickly alerting plant personnel when usage increases.
• The headliner silencer is recycled polyethylene terepthalate (PET) soft drink bottles; some sound deadeners used reclaimed PVC.
• The wastewater treatment plant used ultra- filtration technology to remove, concentrate and recycle emulsified oils from the on-site stamping plant.
• Internal plastics were coded to aid recycling.
• Brake linings were asbestos free and clearcoat paints were lead-free.
• Hazardous constituents were reduced to prevent their emission into the atmosphere or waste water.

Key factory pages at Allpar

• Assembly plants:
  • Windsor, Ontario assembly plant complex (also see preparing Windsor for the 2008 minivans)
  • Dodge Main
  • Toledo, Ohio Jeep plants
  • Jefferson Avenue and Jefferson North
  • Sterling Heights Assembly and Stamping plants
  • Lynch Road Plymouth-DeSoto plant (1928-1980)
  • Maxwell / Chrysler New Castle plant (1907-2002)
  • AMC / Nash at El Segundo
  • Conner Avenue (Viper and Prowler)
  • Belvidere
  • Rotterdam (the Netherlands)
  • Swiss assembly plants (AMAG, MOWAG)
• Support plants:
• Twinsburg stamping plant
• Mack Avenue engine complex
• Mt. Elliott Tool & Die / Outer Drive Stamping
• Detroit Axle
• Sterling Heights Assembly and Stamping plants
• Factory photos:
• 2009 Dodge Ram
• 1995 Neon (Belvedere)
• Chrysler LeBaron Convertible (St. Louis)
• Newark Assembly Plant
• Other facilities
  • Chrysler Technical Center / Auburn Hills Complex
  • Chelsea Proving Grounds
  • Plymouth Road Office Complex (PROC / JTE)
  • Corporate Office and Display Building, 12220 Jefferson Avenue (1933-????)
  • Arizona Proving Grounds (2008) — both Wittman and Yucca
• Related pages
  • Working at the factory: Dave Tyjeski (2009), Bill Wetherholt (2009), Matt Wetherholt (2009), Views (2002), Teamwork (1998)
  • Summary of facilities, 1924-2009
  • 1966 Chrysler factories (including Space and Defense)
  • Factory closings under Daimler and Cerberus
  • Summary of facilities — including factories and administrative buildings — 2005-2007

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