Hopefully this turns lower prices per vehicle.
Chrysler LLC announced today that its manufacturing productivity has improved by 31.4 percent over the last seven years, taking nearly fourteen hours out of the average time it takes to assemble a vehicle, including its major components. In 2007 alone, Chrysler’s Manufacturing Operations assembled a vehicle an average of 30.37 total labor hours per vehicle (HPV). Chrysler posted a 7.7 percent improvement in total manufacturing labor productivity to tie with Toyota as industry leaders, according to the Harbour Report™ North America 2008, the annual study released today by Oliver Wyman.
"Labor Hours Per Vehicle or HPV is not the only important gauge an auto manufacturer should look at, but a low HPV allows a company to allocate limited resources to other operations in its goals to please their customers," said Ron Harbour, Partner in Charge of Auto Manufacturing at Oliver Wyman. "The HPV reduction of nearly 14 hours is a very impressive turnaround from where Chrysler was just a few years ago."
Chrysler showed improvement in each of the four manufacturing areas: Vehicle Assembly improved by 9 percent; Stamping improved by 5.7 percent; Engine Assembly improved by 7.1 percent; and Transmission Assembly improved by 1.0 percent.
"We set out to reach this goal in 2001 when we had the highest HPV among the North American OEMs that are tracked in The Harbour Report,™ and to have reached this goal is truly an example of how successful we can be," said Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler LLC Executive Vice President - Manufacturing. "The journey is never-ending; our Manufacturing Operations will continue its focus on producing high-quality vehicles that satisfy the needs of our consumers, while applying our Smart Manufacturing strategy for even greater performance."
Top Segment Performers
The best-performing assembly plant in North America for labor hours per vehicle is Chrysler's innovative Toledo Supplier Park, co-operated with production partners The Kuka Group, Magna Steyr and Hyundai Mobis-owned Ohio Module Manufacturing Company, where vehicle assembly averages just 13.57 hours, an improvement of 38 percent over last year.
The best performing engine plant this year is the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA), a Chrysler, Hyundai and Mitsubishi partnership, which on average requires only 1.84 hours to assemble an engine, an improvement of 31.3 percent from the previous year.
