Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne and Chrysler Canada President and CEO Reid Bigland, along with the Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan, Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell, CAW President Ken Lewenza and other local officials, joined employees in recognizing the importance of the plant, the workforce and the 300 and Charger in the future success of the company.

“The launch of the all-new 2011 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger demonstrates how far this company has come in 18 months,” said Marchionne. “The assistance of the governments of Canada and the Province of Ontario gave us the opportunity to create a future. Chrysler Group owes a deep debt of gratitude to taxpayers in Canada and the U.S. for the loans that enabled a vibrant, restructured company to emerge in June 2009. Along with the commitment, dedication and support of our CAW partners and employees, we are demonstrating what can be achieved when industry, government and labor recognize the need to come together.”

The Company has invested more than U.S. $1 billion since 2008 for the launch of the 300, Charger and Challenger for assembly, stamping, material handling and tooling. "This is an important day for Chrysler Group and the CAW as it launches two new products, thereby preserving good manufacturing jobs in Canada,” said Ken Lewenza, President, CAW. “The strong relationship between our two organizations will contribute to the future success of Chrysler, our employees and the products we so proudly build."

World Class Manufacturing (WCM) achieves results in Brampton

In preparation for the launch of the all-new 2011 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger, employees at BAP began transforming the facility as part of World Class Manufacturing (WCM), an extensive and thorough process to restore all facilities to their original and maximum functionality. With the implementation of WCM, improvements have been made to the Brampton plant, including high-efficiency lighting, upgraded cafeteria, remodeled bathrooms and freshly painted colorful walls. These facility improvements, Chrysler Group believes, have increased the morale of the nearly 2,900 employees working on two shifts and given them a new sense of purpose. Quite surprisingly Chrysler Group has also admitted that as a result of these changes employees felt empowered to then offer more than 5,000 suggestions on other improvements that could be made throughout the plant, a stunning amount of criticism to be levelled on a 25 year old factory.

The Brampton plant also invested U.S. $20 million to establish a Metrology Centre onsite that would further improve quality. Used throughout the Fiat system, the 35,000-square-foot facility joins the Jefferson North (Detroit) Assembly Plant as one of the first Chrysler Group facilities and one of only a few Canadian automotive manufacturing facilities to utilize such technology. The Metrology Centre employs more than 30 people, who are responsible for measurement and validation of the body geometry. The tools within the Metrology Centre are used to verify the capability of the vehicle’s entire sheet metal structure to the smallest of tolerances, as small as a human hair. The aim is to identify possible deviations between the product and the process.

Another process used for the launch of the 300 and Charger vehicle design borrowed from Fiat is a new roof laser braze process, which allows for a seamless transition from the roof to the door opening. Brampton Assembly invested nearly U.S. $12 million to be the first Chrysler plant to install this new technology. The laser braze process uses an intense laser-light beam to melt a piece of silicon wire, applied by four robots, into a predetermined location between the aperture and roof panel. This fully automated technology will give the new 300 and Charger the best-in-class sculptural appearance of many luxury vehicles, while improving customer quality and achieving optimal process cost reductions.

Brampton Assembly Plant

The Brampton Assembly Plant sits on 269 acres in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, about 1.5 hours north of the world famous Niagara Falls. The building is approximately 3 million square feet and has its own stamping facility. The plant has nearly 33 miles of conveyors, more than 600 robots, 80 receiving docks and has the capacity to build more than 1,500 vehicles daily. Nearly 2,900 people work on two shifts at the Brampton plant, with more than 2,700 being represented by Local CAW 1285. The facility was built in 1986 and acquired by Chrysler with the purchase of AMC in August 1987. The plant began production of the LH vehicles – the Dodge Intrepid, Eagle Vision and Chrysler Concorde – in June 1992. Production of a new Chrysler Concorde and Dodge Intrepid began in September 1997, followed by the Chrysler LHS and 300M in April 1998. Production of the 300 launched in January 2004, with the Dodge Magnum following in February. Production of the Charger was launched in early 2005 while the Dodge Challenger with the 5.7-liter HEMI engine, was introduced in 2008.