Building the 2009 Dodge Ram and Dakota: Inside the Factory
These photos were sent by J.P. Joans, and provide an unusual look into the Warren, Michigan factory where the 2009 Dodge Ram and Dakota are made.
Within the factory, there’s bumper to bumper traffic. Get it? Ha, ha.
Parts of the Dakota look quite dashing.
No more puns from now on. Promise. Here, the bodies travel by rail — an easier assembly line.
If you wondered about the problem boards we talked about in the empowered work teams article, here are two examples. This is part of a very clever process which is the antithesis of the Daimler “only engineers from Germany in white coats can do make decisions” system; similar systems helped Volvo in years past, and are used by Toyota and Honda today. Basically, the employees work in groups to solve problems and raise quality, because on most vehicles, quality is not a matter of three or four Really Big Engineering Projects, but a matter of hundreds or thousands of smaller issues (and dozens of bigger ones.) Seriously, take a moment and read the article on empowered work teams. We’ll wait for you.
Note that the logo is Chrysler. Not “DaimlerChrysler” or “CerberusChrysler.”
Here’s the chassis-assembly monorail. Much more reliable than the one at Newark Airport (which, incidentally, is in Elizabeth).
Using these plastic totes eliminated tons of unnecessary waste — Chrysler employees came up with the idea back in the pre-Daimler days.
Warren: the plant with two stories to tell.
Rams get a grilling...
In case you were wondering, executives sometimes need to park, too.
Outside the plant
These photos were taken by Christopher J. Carpenter in summer 2011 as part of the Allpar Factory Road Tour.
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