The first 9-speed transmissions built in Kokomo were turned out by hand by a team of workers and engineers at the sprawling Indiana Transmission Plant 1.
And in the middle of the night last November — at 1 a.m. to be exact — the team hit the ignition on a specially modified (and stationary) Fiat at the plant and the very first 9-speed built in the United States got a test run.
“It was a monumental moment for Kokomo,” said Todd Applegate, an engineering manager at the plant.
Since then, the plant has produced 80,000 9-speeds, which Chrysler is putting into each of its 2014 Jeep Cherokee vehicles.
As Bob Dylan helped announce at the Super Bowl, the 9-speed is about to debut in a second car later this year, the 2015 Chrysler 200.
Within a few years, the 9-speed could be all they make at the 1.2 million-square-foot plant, which before the 9-speed was dedicated solely to manufacturing traditional 6-speed, rear-wheel drive transmissions.
“Why would you want a 6-speed when you could have a 9-speed?” asked ITP1 Plant Manager Jeremy Keating, who led the first media tour of the new 9-speed line Thursday.
There are 600 new hires from the past year working at the plant, but there are plenty of Chrysler veterans who stayed with the company as it plummeted during the Daimler/Cerberus era.
Invariably, the veterans will try to explain just how much of a turnaround the company, which earned $1.8 billion in 2013, has made. Sometimes they’ll just tell you they’ve been around for 20 years, accompanied with a look which tells a story.
The 9-speed, featuring several technological innovations by its German designer, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, is being heralded as the tangible proof of that turnaround.
The plan is for the five Kokomo-area plants to combine in the next couple of years to ramp up production of the 9-speed, which auto analysts expect to become Chrysler’s transmission of choice.
Beyond the manufacturing and testing lines at ITP1 for the new transmission, the plant is also now equipped to machine enough parts to supply the soon-to-be-operational Tipton Transmission Plant, where the bulk of the 9-speeds will eventually be produced.
Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said “stay tuned” when asked when the new plant opening will be announced, and said Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne will likely attend the dedication when it happens this spring.
Getting to this point at ITP 1 has taken two years and some $628 million in new machinery, but Chrysler has successfully gotten a significant jump on its competition with ITP1’s 9-speed production.
It’s a race to improve fuel mileage, mandated by federal fuel-efficiency standards, without sacrificing performance.
In the Jeep Cherokee, the 9-speed is expected to improve fuel efficiency by 14 percent over the model it replaced, the Jeep Liberty, which had a 6-speed. The 9-speed is also about 30 lbs. lighter.
Line workers contributed to the layout of individual work stations. Dirtier manufacturing methods, like the heavy use of oil in the machining process, were dispensed with as the most modern robotic turning machines were brought in.
At the work stations, all of the parts are within easy reach inside a “golden zone” directly in front of the worker, eliminating the need for body contortion.
Cameras monitor how each of the carrier parts are put together and the line doesn’t move if the unit isn’t right. Skilled trades workers use computers to access machine manuals and maintenance records and line workers log training digitally.
At the end of the line, each of the finished 9-speeds is filled with helium and then re-sealed. Robots sniff every square inch of the helium-filled bell housing and a unit which leaks is kicked to the reject line, to be either repaired or torn down.
About 8 percent to 10 percent of the transmissions are rejected right now, and the plant goal is to bring that number down below 5 percent, Keating said.
“When we started out, the rejection rate was 80 percent,” he added.
The learning curve has been steep at ITP1, which Chrysler has tasked with eventually being able to produce 24 variations on the 9-speed, including all-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions, along with versions with push-button capability.
“It really is high-tech stuff, built right here in Kokomo,” Applegate said.