Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/328695
T he Peterbilt production facil- ity in Denton, Texas, is in the process of achieving two major milestones. One will be sustain- ing a build rate of more than 150 trucks per day, a goal that plant manager Leon Handt expects to surpass this spring. The other will be integrating into the production flow the new Model 579. In spite of the dynamic state of the production facility, Handt is calm, col- lected and confident that the two major milestones will be passed seamlessly at the legendary plant. "We've been planning and preparing for the new product launch since 2007," says Handt. "And the fact that we are concurrently taking the final steps to achieving our goals has really helped us optimize our production processes." Plant changes Handt notes that the plant will see a few physical changes as a result of the new model. Most notable will be a new Model 579 cab "build cell," which was designed by Magna International Inc., a company that has been serving the auto industry since the 1950s. Their designs were executed by Detroit-based Comau, also a leader in automotive production technology. "We've had a very team-oriented approach to integrating the new tech- nologies," says Handt. "We had teams from engineering, production, mainte- nance, quality and several other Peterbilt departments forming a core group, and studying every aspect of the new cab 20 l FIRST CLASS PLANT PREPARATIONS New model production and growing build rate have plant optimizing effi- "We had teams from engineering, production, maintenance, quality and several other Peterbilt departments forming a core group, studying every aspect of the new cab build equipment." Above, the new model dash manipulator is installed and tested. Lower left, production cells were built and tested by Peterbilt at Comau, in Troy, Mich. Production benchmarking also occurred at PACCAR's DAF plant in the Netherlands and its Leyland Trucks facility in the United Kingdom. Running on All Cylinders