Touring the Detroit Plant and driving Western Stars in Michigan

Touring the Detroit Plant and driving Western Stars in Michigan

A few weeks ago, Tom and I made a trip to Michigan. First, we had the opportunity to tour The Detroit Manufacturing Plant, where Detroit manufactures their engines, transmissions, and axles.

We had the great pleasure of being shown around by Pam Esshaki, QM Assembly Quality Coordinator—Plant Tours. Pam has worked at Detroit for 44 years. This is truly her plant. She knows everything there is to know about the plant and its products. Here she is showing us the pistons for DD13, 15, and 16 engines:

Pam walked us through her process for transmission assembly.

One of the many unique tools at Pam’s plant are diamond-blade cutting heads that are used to machine the engine blocks. These heads are unique because they allow for a dry cut, meaning no liquid coolant or lubricant is sprayed on the material as it’s cut. This means that they can recycle 100% of the scrap material. You can see it flowing into a bin below, where it waits to be recast. Another benefit to dry cutting is that scrap isn’t blown back at the engine, eliminating the risk of scratching.

On the second day of our trip, we went to Belle Isle, MI, to drive Western Star trucks. We checked out the Bandit, a Western Star 5700XE whose colors were chosen through a social media campaign, and also got to test drive another 5700XE.

Here’s the truck Tom was driving in the photo above:

Who else thinks this truck needs a Tempus Transport sticker?! Special thanks to Western Star for inviting us to this awesome event!

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