Floor Space: Nearly 5 million square feet
Acreage: 280 acres
Products: Dodge Dart, Jeep® Compass and Jeep Patriot
Employment: 4,523 (4,326 hourly; 197 salaried) operating on a 3-2-120 work pattern
Robotics: 945
Union Local: UAW Locals 1268 and 1761
Plant History: Plant was constructed in 1964-65. The first car was produced on July 7, 1965. The product line from 1965 to 1977 included the Plymouth and Dodge two-door and four-door models, and station wagons, and the Chrysler Town & Country station wagon.
In 1977, the plant was converted to front-wheel drive production. From 1978-1987, the product lines included Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni.
In 1987, the plant underwent a $367 million state-of-the-art, 16-week model changeover to produce the Chrysler New Yorker and Dodge Dynasty, the company's full-size front-wheel drive four-door sedans. Two years later, the plant underwent a $72 million model changeover for production of 1990 models that included the Chrysler Imperial and New Yorker Salon.
In 1994, the plant was converted to produce the Plymouth and Dodge Neon. Production of the Neon ended in September 2005. The Dodge Caliber was launched in December 2005, followed by the Jeep Compass in May 2006 and Jeep Patriot in December 2006. The last Dodge Caliber rolled off the line on Dec. 19, 2011.
In October 2010, Chrysler Group announced that it would invest $600 million to support the production of future models in 2012. The investment included the construction of a 638,000-square-foot body shop as well as the installation of new machinery, tooling and material handling equipment. On Feb. 2, 2012, Chrysler Group announced that the original $600 million investment had increased to $700 million and that the plant would add 1,800 jobs by the third quarter of 2012, which included nearly 500 for production of the all-new Dodge Dart. The 3-2-120 operating pattern -- three crews working four 10 hours days on two shifts for 120 production hours per week -- was implemented on July 23, 2012.
In January 2012, the Dodge Dart was revealed at the North American International Auto Show, showcasing the combined engineering and technologies of Chrysler Group and Fiat. Production of the new Dart began on April 30, 2012.