During an event today at the Sterling Stamping Plant to dedicate three new stamping press lines, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne announced that as a result of a $166 million investment, the sheet metal for the next generation Jeep® Wrangler will be stamped in-house, a first for the 51-year-old suburban Detroit plant.
“I’m pleased to announce today that this plant will be making all the stamping parts for the next generation Jeep Wrangler,” Marchionne told the audience of about 700, which included UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell, UAW leadership, FCA US executives and plant employees. “That work is being brought in house. We have for a long period of time had to rely on outside supply. The addition of the three presses is hopefully the beginning of a revamping of our stamping machines here.”
Recognized as the largest stamping facility in the world at nearly 3 million square feet, the three new press lines will increase the plant’s capacity by nearly 75,000 stampings per day or 20 million a year. This additional capacity will allow the plant to not only take on the new Wrangler work, but also play a bigger role in the production of the next generation Ram 1500 when it moves to its new home at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (Mich.). Production at the stamping plant will increase by about 30 percent, from more than 62 million stampings annually to about 82 million.
As part of the Company’s reorganization plan in 2009, a decision was made to close a stamping plant in Twinsburg, Ohio, leaving only two standalone stamping plants in Sterling Heights and Warren, Mich. Since then, FCA US has tripled its annual vehicle production from one million vehicles to nearly three million. The investment in the three new press lines will allow the plant to support the future growth of the Ram and Jeep brands.
Since June 2009, FCA US has invested over $8.3 billion in its U.S. manufacturing operations to upgrade facilities and increase capacity. Of that amount, more than $3.5 billion has been spent in Michigan.
