Production Ramping Up at Kenworth Truck Plant

This story appears in the Nov. 7 print edition of Transport Topics.

RENTON, Wash. — Kenworth Truck Co.’s plant here is busy again, assembling 18 vehicles a day with a single shift of 525 employees.

While still far below the peak of more than 50 trucks a day with two shifts in 2006, there is much more activity now than during the recession, when the plant made just two vehicles a day.

“We specialize in high-content trucks here, including tridems for use in Canada,” said Craig Owens, assistant plant manager. In contrast, large-volume, heavy-duty fleet orders are assembled in Kenworth’s Chillicothe, Ohio, plant. Owens led reporters and editors on a tour of the facility on Oct. 27 and said his trucks often are exported.

“They go all over the world — to South America, the Middle East and Russia, often for logging and oil-field work,” he said.

The company said the plant uses a great deal of technology to make production more efficient and less dangerous. Most of the painting is done robotically, but workers — in ventilated full-coverage suits — still do prep work. Paint is baked onto the body in ovens that run between 200 and 215 degrees Fahrenheit.

Robots also apply the urethane sealant on windshields that binds them to the cab. Owens said the work is well-suited for automation because robots can apply the bead of glue precisely and consistently throughout a shift.

He also said the plant has machinery to provide assistance whenever a line worker has to lift something heavier than 35 pounds, including a truck tire. Five unions have organized various segments of workers in the Renton plant, Owens said, including painters, sheet-metal workers, machinists and Teamsters.

Wheels and tires are attached with hydraulic nut-runners that fasten several pieces simultaneously with precise amounts of torque.

Most of the engines in line for assembly on the day Transport Topics visited were Cummins Inc. The Columbus, Ind., engine maker supplies Kenworth with heavy-duty ISX power plants. There also were Paccar MX engines in line, the company’s in-house 12.9-liter offering since last year, and a single Caterpillar engine.

Because of the plant’s export business, Owens said, on any day he might have new engines made with emissions technology meeting 1998, 2004, 2007 or 2010 standards. Export vehicles head overseas through ports in Florida, Texas or Washington.

The largest engine the plant installs is the 15-liter ISX. The oil-field, mining and logging trucks often would use that engine because they pull loads significantly heavier than the standard 80,000-pound federal limit. They have twin steer axles up front and tridem drives on the rear of the tractor, not including the wheels on trailing equipment.

When selecting production order, Owens said, the large, complicated models are not assembled back-to-back. Instead, they are manufactured in between simpler models so the assembly line does not have to change speeds.

It takes two days to finish a truck. A truck starts its journey through the U-shaped assembly line upside down, as that is the easiest way to attach axles. After axle attachment, a large hydraulic flipping machine turns the chassis right-side up and it proceeds along the line.

In addition to using computer monitors to display customer specifications for each vehicle, there are older technologies at work as well.

“We use a lot of 5-gallon buckets still,” said Owens as he passed a chassis with a bucket attached to it. Buckets contain smaller parts and tools necessary for vehicle assembly.

Kenworth also uses a lot of third-party logistics services, Owens said. Their main work is preparing subassemblies from kits. Paccar’s Dynacraft division is a major service provider. Finished trucks, Owens said, are delivered by Active Truck Transport, Pleasant Prairie, Wis., usually on a piggyback basis.

Kenworth, which is a division of Paccar Inc., opened the Renton plant in 1993 after 13 months of construction. The 270,000-square-foot building sits on a 40-acre lot along with the headquarters of Paccar Parts. Renton is an extension of the company’s Seattle history.

Harry Kent and Edgar Worthington started Kenworth in 1923 in Seattle, making logging trucks. Paccar bought Kenworth from the Kent and Worthington families in 1944. Paccar acquired Peterbilt in 1958.