As FCA US LCC is trying to manage an ongoing safety recall fiasco, the company announces that $166 million will be invested in Sterling Stamping Plant in Michigan to meet increased demand. This investment also marks 50 years since the plant went online.
Located in Sterling Heights, the stamping facility will use the $166 million investment for adding three new press lines. Already under construction, these lines are slated to start production in Q4 of 2015, with full volume expected to be reached in Q1 of 2016.
At the present moment, Sterling Stamping makes about 62 million stampings annually. With the new press lines operating at full volume, add 20 million stampings on top of those mentioned earlier. “In response to the increased demand for our products, it was crucial to make an investment where the manufacturing process starts,” informs Brian Harlow of FCA US.
Home to nearly 2,300 employees, Sterling Stamping is an essential production facility for FCA US LLC. Of the stampings produced here, we can highlight that most of them provide the visual identity for the Dodge Durango, Dart and Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country and 200, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Compass, and Patriot, as well as the Ram Trucks lineup of workhorses.
Producing hoods, roofs, side apertures, fenders, floor pans, and liftgates is not easy. Because of this, the new investment will go into two High Speed Servo Tandem press lines, as well as a Servo Progressive press line. The largest stamping complex in the world ships its stampings to assembly facilities located in the States, Mexico, and Canada, to be welded to form the body shells of the aforementioned nameplates.
In the Chrysler 200’s case, the stampings are shipped to Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. The adjacent 9-minute video is a testament to how much tech goes into turning metal into the body shell of a vehicle.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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