Our Detroit® manufacturing facility is the epicenter of advanced quality, technology and innovation. We pride ourselves on using exemplary workmanship in every aspect of our manufacturing process, from design all the way to delivery.
Quality Throughout the Manufacturing Process
Every Detroit® product that leaves the line goes through rigorous testing, ensuring that it performs to the highest quality standard. Every component is measured and remeasured in microns (a fraction of the width of a red blood cell). Detroit® ensures to test for functional and structural integrity, down to the tiniest of details. The testing process is extensive, painstakingly detailed, and backed by accountability for every part and process along the manufacturing line. Detroit® hot-tests every transmission and engine under load, recreating the toughest environments for our products to ensure their long-lasting durability and reliability. Detroit® engines experience more than one million miles of simulated on-road mileage testing to validate performance before an engine leaves the plant, which only occurs after comprehensive quality testing.
Pressurized air and dynamometer testing is prominent, especially among engines and transmissions. Before leaving the factory, Detroit® engines are tested on the shop floor for 600 parameters. There are 26 dyno test machines in the factory, and Detroit® engines go through rigorous testing before they are approved for customer delivery. When engines reach the window-suite, a targeted testing area, they are further tested for 1,200 additional parameters over 45K hours of run time. At Detroit®, every day, it all happens on site.
A data matrix code is stamped into every part and scanned by robots, extending complete transparency and accountability to every external supplier and assembler in the field, so possible issues are rooted out and resolved at the source. Because we track every part closely, questions about whether the parts are cast correctly, cut with the correct tools or measured accurately are answered fast. For Detroit®, only the highest standards of quality are acceptable.
One engine takes 4.5 hours to travel through the assembly line, where it is indexed for required quality benchmarks 40 times. If a single factor fails to pass, albeit rarely, the engine is redirected along a separate quality control pathway for correction.
At Detroit®, we take quality seriously.
Learn more by visiting the nearest Freightliner or Western Star dealership.
Find the Nearest Dealer