How long does it take to "Make " a truck???

[roperteacher]

I was curious. . At the plant in Saltillo, Mx. . How long does it take to Actually make a Dodge Ram Diesel??? A few hours?? I was watching the news and saw the UAW strikes back east and saw how the machines and people makes the vehicles. . Just wondered how long it takes from Beginning to end and how the process worked?? Does one person put on each part??? Thanks!

 

[jelag]

Most US manufactured vehicles have between 15 and 22 hours of assembly time... that is from the time the first part is started at the front of the assembly line and the running vehicle rolls off the end.....

One of the key issues with GM is that a GM vehicle has 1500. 00 of benefits in every sold vehicle for those who are retired from GM and did not have a handle on the assembly or manufacture of the vehicle... . Toyota, Nissan, etc made here in the US have none, because those workers are not part of the UAW..... Did I say this right..... they are funding the retirement of those past workers with current profits...

Don't get me wrong... . the US worker are well paid by the foreign manufactures but not as well as the counterpart working for the UAW... .

I'm going to guess that the worker in Mexico with benefits they have from Chrysler make less per day than the benefit package alone at the UAW... .

If I was in control of GM I'd pick the most profitable vehicle they make, I'm guessing the Cad Esplanade and I'd start that line back up with workers trained the same as Suburu, Toyota, Mazada that are built here in the US plants... .

That would rock the foundation of the UAW and get them to sit back and take a hard look at what GM is doing..... Auto manufacturing is doomed in the US once the other offshore startups gain in quality... .

I do business with a vendor who makes fuel tank sending units and pumps... I can purchase a sender and pump, as a replacement cartridge for under $30 but have to take a container of these puppies and don't have a clue what they fit other than I have a picture and GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota etc to go by nothing in the form of make and model... Its a crap shoot and at least 500 hours of sorting out the make year and model... . BTW they are the tier 1 source to the OEM's... . tier 1 means their main supplier for the assembly line.

But I'm off the track here... . thank you gents for letting me stand on my soap box...

 

[roperteacher]

Thanks for the insightful response... . I was explaining to my High School students today why when you call DELL or others for computer help your actually being directed to INDIA. Same goes for Mexico. THe people working at the plant WANT A JOB and know that if they mess up there is another guy waiting to take their place. They are paid about 1/3 of an American worker and do a much better job many will say... . They say the trucks in Saltillo are far better than those made in Detroit??

 

[Regcabguy]

Saltillo performance.

The only input I can provide is: ordered truck on 9-29-06,loaded on train 10-16,arrived Dave Smith 10-30-06. Pretty efficient. P. S. On the Dell subject,the one time I called the support line it took the third of three polite but unintelligable contact persons before I could understand them. The third was a Philipino in Manila.

 

[CDonaldson]

I know years ago it was about 24-26 hours to go from start to finish in man hours for assembly when they put in Robotics. Before that it was double that time.



Imagine, you order a computer from Dell, all the tech service is foreign so you have to deal with the communication problems. Now, consider having to do the same thing in dealing with Mexico on our trucks? Of course, dealing with some dealers makes you feel like you are dealing with extraterrestials, so maybe dealing with someone from Mexico might be easier? Time to brush up on Espanol?



CD