Kenworth’s Chillicothe, Ohio, and Renton, Washington, assembly plants received a total of three prestigious 2022 Manufacturing Leadership Awards in the Engineering and Production Technology category. The awards were announced today by the Manufacturing Leadership Council of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
The Kenworth Chillicothe plant was honored with Manufacturing Leadership Awards for its new Kenworth Paint Facility and Henrob Error Proofing project. The Kenworth Chillicothe team successfully launched the world class paint facility into production in June 2021. Engineering for the 120,000 square-foot paint facility began in 2016, followed by the start of building construction in 2018. The state-of-the-art paint facility utilizes the latest paint technologies to increase capacity, enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and improve first pass quality.
Kenworth Chillicothe’s second Manufacturing Leadership Award exemplifies that continued drive to further increase quality through development of an error-proof cartridge system for Henrob self-piercing fasteners in the robotic cab and sleeper assembly cell, the truck OEM note. This cell uses seven different rivet styles, across five different assembly stations, to mechanically fasten cab components together. The error-proof cartridge system prevents the possibility of the wrong rivets loaded to the tools.
The Kenworth Renton plant earned a Manufacturing Leadership Award for its Electrostatic Paint Gun in the Touch Up Facility. Engineers engaged with the paint operation to understand specific needs and researched electrostatic paint gun capabilities. The project team worked with vendors to select and configure a paint gun to achieve and exceed performance goals for paint usage, time savings, and first-time quality. The paint gun was fine-tuned to perform well with the paints utilized at the plant. The electrostatic paint gun reduced paint usage by 75 percent, paint time of parts by up to 50 percent, and improved color matching when spraying metallic paints.
Kenworth’s plants in Chillicothe, Ohio, and Renton, Wash., both have earned the International Standards Organization (ISO) 14001:2015 certification for effective environmental management systems established to help build Class 8 trucks in an environmentally sustainable manner. Kenworth’s medium-duty products are produced at the PACCAR Ste. Thérèse, Quebec, manufacturing facility, which also holds ISO 14001:2015 status.
