Toledo Assembly Plants and Supplier Park: Jeep and Dodge

Also see: 2011 Toledo North plant tour

Toledo plant manager Gonzalez

The Chrysler-Toledo story began in 1903, when Albert A. Pope took over Toledo Steamer. When the 1907 recession shut down Pope’s car companies, John North Willys bought the huge Toledo plant for Overland Motor Company. (Another consequence that would have major ramifications for Chrysler: Owen R. Skelton then left his engineering job at Pope-Toledo to become a transmission specialist for Packard, sending him on his way to join with Carl Breer and Fred Zeder.) Toledo remained Willys-Overland’s primary plant through the creation of the Jeep, World War II, and the postwar boom.

1926 Toledo plant

In 1954, Kaiser bought Willys-Overland for $63 million, primarily to get a product (Jeep) which had no real competitors outside of International Harvester in the United States, as well as a thriving export and international licensing business (including India’s Mahindra) — two major boons for a small car company faced with a highly competitive domestic market. Kaiser changed the name to Willys Motors, and combined its production and sales organizations, rapidly turning the company around.

1964 Toledo plant

A great deal of money was raised almost immediately, because Kaiser was being able to sell its massive Willow Run plant to General Motors to replace an automatic transmission plant destroyed by fire; Kaiser moved into the Willys Toledo plant, GM moved into Willow Run, and Kaiser pocketed almost enough to pay for Willys.

1926 forge shop at Toledo Ohio

1997 Jeep Parkway plant

Jeep-Overland plant in 1993

Willys’ Jeep Parkway plant, above, was well established when, in 1942, the Stickney Plant was built by Autolite; in 1964, AMC bought it for use as a machining and engine plant.

TNAP sign

TNAP factory

In 1962, the corporate name was changed to the Kaiser Jeep Corporation. To quote Bill Watson, after 1955, “Willys Motors never looked back, becoming a nice little source of income for the Kaisers.”

On March 3, 1964, Kaiser Jeep took over Studebaker’s military vehicle production contracts as the latter shut down their operations, acquiring Studebaker’s Chippewa Avenue Plant as part of the deal. In the same year, AMC purchased Autolite’s 22-year-old Stickney plant, to use for machining and building engines.

Jeep Wrangler assembly

TNAP overview

Toledo Machining (in Perrysburg) opened in 1967, and was expanded in 1969; from then until the present day it built various components for numerous Chrysler factories and vehicles.

In 1970, American Motors (AMC) bought the U.S. operations of Kaiser Jeep; this company, the result of a union between Hudson and Nash, spun the military vehicle operations off into AM General a year later.

In 1981, the Stickney plant was converted to build the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, becoming the Toledo Assembly Plant when Chrysler Corporation acquired AMC in 1987. Wagoneer production stopped in 1991, and the plant was demolished, replaced by Toledo North and the Toledo Supplier Park (Toledo South).

In 1996, nearly 40% of the Jeep Cherokees made in Toledo were shipped outside the United States; half of all Cherokees were for customers outside North America.

The new Toledo Supplier Park and South

In the early 2000s, Tom LaSorda approached three key suppliers and offered them lucrative and exclusive contracts if they built Chrysler a new Wrangler plant in Toledo. That is how Kuka, Hyundai, and Magna, came to build the Wrangler (though Chrysler does final assembly).

While the plant cost Chrysler practically nothing when it was built, and has twice been named the most efficient assembly plant in North America by Harbour, this approach limits Chrysler’s profits and quality control.

2004 Jeeps

TNAP supplier park

robots

What does the future hold? The Jeep Wrangler will be emphasized going forward, and new variants will be built.

If Chrysler were to buy out its suppliers, it could add to the plant to build additional capacity with minimal investment; but that would require a determination that demand will increase substantially as the Wrangler and its variants are introduced across Fiat's global dealer network. Without some kind of production increase for Wrangler — in Toledo or the conversion of a second plant overseas —there is no way to build enough Wranglers or Wrangler derivatives in Toledo to meet even incremental increased global demand that will come naturally from being part of Fiat's global sales network.

aisles

Toledo North: the original digital factory

map of Toledo North plant

Toledo North was completed in 2001, four years after its groundbreaking, at the cost of $1.2 billion. The 2.1 million square foot plant started out with 2,969 employees. Toledo South continued to make the Wrangler.

welding the 2007 dodge nitro SUV The Chrysler Digital Factory system, used extensively by Mercedes, was based on Jeep’s Toledo facility, where the Liberty set new standards for build quality, beating nearly all Mercedes models in quality rankings.

The Toledo North Assembly Plant, or T-NAP, was designed to be as technologically advanced as possible. It uses a system that lifts and lowers the body as it moves from station to station (a method pioneered by Volvo in the 1970s).

An electronic notification system, also used in the Brazil Dakota plant, notified closely-tied suppliers of needs "just in time." The system is specific, letting suppliers know when a vehicle is scheduled and started so they can do their part to outfit it. There is almost no inventory, and most delivered parts are used right away, which means it is susceptible to traffic and other problems.

tracks

The Jeep plant was designed using UGS' e-VIS software, which allows for 3D factory and process design. An ergonomic analysis was conducted for all 200 workstations, using a simulated employee, whose moves were carefully modelled. Time and motion and health (e.g. back strain) could all be studied by computer - along with such niceties as clearance (would people and parts fit in the allotted space?). A full model of the plant allowed for a simulation with cars running down the conveyors, and virtual workers actively picking up and attaching parts.

work teams

Recent plant updates

In 2005, the Toledo plants at Stickney Avenue and Jeep Parkway, which made the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, employed 1,329 people, while Toledo North, building the Liberty, employed 2,658 people. A nearby machining plant employed 1,638 people to make steering columns and torque converters.

The Toledo North Assembly Plant, home of the Liberty, was the first Chrysler facility built using manufacturing simulation for only $54 per square foot, an industry benchmark when compared to the industry average of $70-80 per square foot.

In 2006, the Supplier Park at Toledo South opened; it made the body and chassis of the Wrangler, painting it as well. Owned and operated in partnership with KUKA, Magna Steyr, and OMMC starting in 2006, the Supplier Park had 3,408 employees in its 2.5 milion sqare foot facility, built at a cost of $2.1 billion.

For 2007, the Toledo North Plant was retooled to manage building two different models on one production line (Nitro and Liberty) and to improve quality, productivity, and worker ergonomics. At the core of the new flexible manufacturing process was a body shop with 150 robots instead of the vehicle-specific heavy tooling that was previously used. The door, hood and liftgate assembly system was new, as were the side aperture assembly systems.

2000 CATIA diagram

Only the robots' "hands" needed to change to build the different models, and that was done automatically, within the time it took to cycle from one vehicle to the next. TNAP could vary production between two products anywhere from 0 to 100 percent of each model. A third model could also be piloted — or test-built — at the same time, helping reduce the time needed to make new-model changeovers.

paint shop control room

An inbound parts sequencing center housed in the Stickney complex managed more than 1,800 different parts, and provided parts metering, kitting, and container management to both Toledo plants. A significant portion of TNAP was fork-truck-free as dollies provided materials to production areas, improving safety and productivity.

Wrnaglers

A new model workplace model let employees design their own work stations. These changes provide a better work environment for employees and give increased support to assembly line team members. (This is presumably part of the empowered team system of management.)

Jeep Liberty assembly

For 2008, a $638 million investment to build the new Liberty included multiple plant upgrades, improving quality, productivity and worker ergonomics. More than 160,000 square feet were added to the plant floor to enhance body and assembly processes. Chrysler wrote, “The 2.1-million-square-foot Toledo North Assembly Plant occupies 200 acres and has more than 2,700 employees working two shifts, with the third shift of approximately 750 employees to begin in the third quarter.”

Many expect the Liberty plant to also build mid-sized and compact cars and crossovers in the future, due to its flexible manufacturing capabilities.

Also see: 2011 Toledo North plant tour