Operations Underway at VTNA’s New River Valley Assembly Plant
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DUBLIN, Va. — Volvo Trucks North America initiated operations of Plant 2 at its New River Valley manufacturing facility in its entirety for the first time June 21.
Until the day a party of reporters toured Plant 2, sections of the cab facility — added as part of a $400 million revamp of the New River Valley complex — had only carried out test runs individually, said Jeffrey McCall, director of cab factory operations.
Cabs for the redesigned flagship Class 8 VNL tractor — launched in January — are built at the plant, a 350,000-square-foot building that McCall said was “kind of like the Willy Wonka chocolate factory.”
VTNA opened the order book for the VNL in April. Deliveries will start in the fourth quarter.
Plant 2 is the most automated plant across Volvo Trucks’ global facilities and operates with 40 to 50 staff per shift.
Cabs for the redesigned flagship Class 8 VNL tractor are built in Plant 2 of VTNA's New River Valley manufacturing facility. (Volvo Trucks North America)
The plant sits alongside Plant 1 at New River Valley, which saw its first tour since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with the visit of Transport Topics and other members of the North American trucking press corps.
VTNA redesigned every square inch of Plant 1, according to Inspiration/Communications Manager Marcus Thompson, VTNA completely flipped the cab assembly sequence.
TBT: This time last week I was driving a VNL semi for the first time at the revamped @VolvoTrucksNA Dublin, VA, test track! Hats off to all the professional drivers! pic.twitter.com/wiL2BszBaf — Keiron Greenhalgh (@kginalex) June 27, 2024
In addition, the legacy plant is getting its first robots as a result of the transformation, including for roof bonding, windshield installation and as part of engine installation.
Both the legacy and redesigned VNL are being built on the same line at present. The VNL cabs are now being built without the doors on, unlike prior to the redesign. The doors are attached to the back of the cab during assembly, making it easier for plant workers to carry out their jobs, said Bill Moore, director of operations (cab and offline).
There are two shifts on the assembly side of Plant 1 while the body in white segment of the plant has three shifts. The BIW segment welds the frame together. Each assembly technician in Plant 1 has 5 minutes, 20 seconds to complete their part of the process of building the truck.
A revamped body in white section of the facility and global pilot plant opened in 2022, a year after production of the VNR Electric began at New River Valley. Current models in production at the complex also include the VNR series highway tractors and VHD Trucks.
New River Valley is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. Volvo bought the plant after the original owner, White Motors, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1981. The first Volvo trucks came off the production line in September 1982. Currently, the 566-acre complex has 2.1 million square feet under its roof.
Parent company Volvo Group’s $400 million investment in New River Valley also saw a revamp of the customer center that opened in 2017 and an expansion of the test track at the facility.
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Transport Topics reporters drove a number of configurations of the VNL tractor around the now 3-mile track with a trailer attached a day before touring the manufacturing facility.
The revamped track features an uphill segment to test out the torque of the tractor. That is followed shortly afterward by a downhill section that enables drivers — many of whom will be potential customers — testing trucks to engage the downhill cruise control option.
Downhill cruise control is one of a number of functions on the steering wheel or on the gear stalk shifter attached to the steering column as VTNA looks to offer drivers options they have become comfortable with on their passenger vehicles.
In the same vein, VTNA also introduced two new options for its Volvo Dynamic Steering package on the redesigned VNL: VDS with active driver assist and VDS with oversteer guidance.
