Most people associate control rooms with nuclear power plants, oil refineries or NASA rocket launches. But, that’s what Chrysler calls the lean manufacturing nerve center at its Belvidere Assembly Plant.
“When we introduced the all-new Dodge Dart compact sedan, we were faced with an integration challenge,” says Kurt Kavajecz, plant manager. “Because the Dart differs significantly from the two vehicles previously built in Belvidere—the Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot—[we] had to make a number of changes in the build process to accommodate the new vehicle architecture. The solution was the control room process.”