Brampton plant set to meet the Dodge Challenger
There are two things to note about tours of car assembly plants, like the one I took a few days ago at Chrysler's Brampton facility:
I only need about one plant tour per year to realize that I am on the right side of this business.
Now, working in a car plant is about as good as an industrial job gets. The pay is great. Although they've been chipped away in recent years, benefits are still spectacular, at least compared to those of freelance automobile journalists, i.e., none.
The work is no longer as mind-numbing – lots of knowledge and skill is needed to run a high-tech operation like this – or as back-breaking as it was, with most of the heavy lifting, materials handling and welding now done by robots.
Still, compared to flying all over the place and driving hot new cars, as opposed to bolting fenders onto cars? Well, I'd rather be doing what I'm doing, thanks just the same.
When you see how many parts go into a car, and how complex the assembly process is, you don't wonder that sometimes a car doesn't work; you realize it's a minor miracle that they ever work.
The Brampton plant was opened in 1986, when Renault still owned American Motors, maker of my beloved Hornet.
The Renault Premier was assembled here, but not for long. Chrysler bought out Renault's stake in AMC in 1987, primarily to get the Jeep brand, and the Premier was rebadged as an Eagle.
Chrysler also built a handful of mechanically identical Dodge-badged Monacos, mainly to fulfill a contract they had with Renault to buy a given quantity of V6 engines. They couldn't toss those things off buildings onto unsuspecting customers, so it was even shorter-lived.
The Premier was light, and technically advanced in many ways – many of its components came from the Renault 25 luxury sedan. But it was beset mainly by electrical problems; Chrysler dumped it in 1992 and began building the LH cars – Eagle Vision, Chrysler Concorde and Dodge (Chrysler for Canada) Intrepid. Chrysler New Yorker and LHS came along later.
Somebody somewhere knows for sure how closely related the Premier was to the LH; for sure they did share some unusual characteristics, like north-south engine placement, rare in front-drive cars.
But the LHS' sleek styling and smooth ride won them a lot of fans.
Worst headlights I ever drove behind though.
The LH family stayed in production in various guises until the new rear-drive LX platform debuted in 2004. That architecture underpins the current Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, the now-and-sadly-discontinued Dodge Magnum, and the new Dodge Challenger.
At inception, Brampton was just about the most modern car factory going. It is built in an E-shape, allowing easier access to various stages of the assembly line by trucks from parts-suppliers.
This just-in-time parts inventory system has had the effect of turning our highways into parts warehouses for manufacturers, and foisting the associated costs – traffic congestion; road surface deterioration; pollution – off on us taxpayers.
But, so far, they seem to have gotten away with it. And, of course, Chrysler is far from being alone here – they all do it now.
I've already mentioned the high degree of automation, common to most car plants.
I just watched a somewhat breathless video clip by Bryce Hoffman, a reporter at the Detroit News, about what he calls the most modern car factory in the world, located in the wilds of the Brazilian rain forests.
Apart from the fact that many of the component suppliers have assembly operations under the same roof, what goes on there doesn't look a whole lot different than what goes on in Brampton.
Automated guided vehicles pick parts from their storage bins and deliver them to the appropriate spots on the line.
Robots pick them up, spin them around, drop them into the fixtures, and weld them all together. The paint shop is also highly automated.
The engine, transmission, and suspension components are pre-assembled on another AGV, and the correct undercarriage and body are "married" in a massive jig.
Seats, instrument panels and doors – again, pre-assembled – are added, the car is tested and out the door its goes. It's all pretty much the same.
What's different about Brampton and the Ford factory in Brazil?
Mostly, your neighbours don't work in Brazil. The workforce at Brampton isn't that old, but just about everybody in the Brazilian operation looks about 25.
Not much need for heart medical coverage or titanium hips among that crowd, which, along with lower wages, is a main reason the costs of new offshore plants are so low.
At a time when things are tough in the Canadian car business – GM is closing a plant in Windsor in 2010 – it's nice to see some good news.
A new product is definitely good news, even a low-volume vehicle like the Challenger, which is hardly a poster child for the environmental movement – especially with the 6.0 L V8.
Even if I still wouldn't want to work there.
Wheels' chief auto writer Jim Kenzie can be reached at jim@jimkenzie.com
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