US pick-ups revive Australian assembly line production
RAM Trucks Australia capped off a historic 2019 with the 5,000th vehicle rolling off the production line in Melbourne; a victory for local manufacturing.
With requests for the American built Ram 1500 and the even bigger Ram 2500 and 3500 models growing exponentially over the past 18 months, the manufacturing facility tasked with converting the vehicles to right hand drive has been operating 24 hours a day since mid-last year to keep up with demand.
To keep up with production, the facility now employs more than 250 people, a staggering increase from the 30 it started out with in 2015 when the operation begun.
This demand for the full-sized ute saw sales increase in Australia by 296.7 per cent in 2019, with 2,868 vehicles successfully converted and sold for the year, crowning the brand as one of the fastest growing in Australia.
Neville Crichton, Executive Chairman of the Ateco Group, the official Australian distributor of RAM Trucks, said the company’s success was a feel-good story for the Australian automotive manufacturing scene.
“This is truly an Australian automotive success story,” said Crichton, the man behind the idea to re-convert the left-hand trucks in Melbourne.
“Last year we sold 767 [vehicles] and just 449 in 2017. Most pleasing of all, however, is the boost to the local automotive manufacturing sector, employing over 250 people directly, and many more indirectly via our local supplier agreements.”
The facility is the first in Australia to operate a 24-hour assembly line in almost 20 years, providing a glimmer of hope to a sector in desperate need of revival.
Despite the price for a RAM starting at $80,000, (approximately $20,000 – $30,000 more than the country’s most popular variants, the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger) there is currently a wait list of up to 4 months.
The conversion process from left to right-hand drive is currently a three day process, but with 24-hour production introduced, the company is hoping to cut it down to 12 hours per vehicle.
“Of course we’re happy, but we honestly never thought it would be this big,” said John Di Berardino, a former Holden Special Vehicles engineer who is now in charge of the Ram production line.
“We’re so lucky in many ways that we had car-manufacturing skills to draw from. While it’s a different process than mass production, we still need certain skill sets.”
Production worker Fernando Carvajal witnessed the transition from local car manufacturing to a conversion business from the front line after switching to Ram in 2015 once the Holden factory shut down, his previous place of employment.
Mr Carvajal said a lot of people in the industry were initially sceptical about the plan to convert US pick-ups to right-hand-drive while matching mass-production safety and quality standards.
“I do the final inspections, I’m the last set of eyes before the car leaves here,” Mr Carvajal said. “It makes you so proud when you see these on the road.
“A lot of people said we couldn’t do it, the cost of converting these vehicles to full manufacturing standards would not be possible and would cost too much.
“But we found a way. That’s what makes this company special. There’s so much knowledge under this roof, we’re just so lucky we haven’t lost it.”
Original source: Ram Trucks | Another milestone for Ram Trucks Australia 5000th Ram locally produced
22 Jan 2020
