Fiat celebrates 40 years with modernized plant

The evolution of the brand in the country has as center the Betim (MG) plant. In 40 years, the plant was transformed into the largest vehicle plant in Latin America and in one of the largest in the world, aside from being the production unit with the largest capacity installed of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) group. With current capacity for producing 800,000 vehicles per year, it was the first automobile plant to be installed outside São Paulo, building a history marked by sales leadership, which has already been reached 14 times.

From the assembly lines, almost 15 million vehicles already came out. Over three million were exported to almost 30 countries. The lead production automobile was Uno, with over 3.7 million units sold.

For its complete modernization, the plant is in the midst of its largest investment cycle, receiving, since 2010, BRL 7 billion in contributions, including the development of new products. As part of this process, the Press unit began to operate, in 2011, with two high paced lines, capable of employing 16 blows per minute, double the speed of conventional presses.

New robots were introduced in the production line, bringing cutting edge technology and more precision. In Body works alone, 195 robots were installed for the production of Mobi. The assembly of the chassis of the new model is totally automatic, from the floor up to the roof, passing through sides and moving parts, like doors, mudguards and hood. The plant will further have a new building for painting, with more modern and efficient equipment, raising the level of quality of the process. The works are in the final phase.

The modernization process occurs without interruption of production in the assembly lines, which gave to FCA know-how to performa simultaneously huge changes of processes, incorporation of new technologies and a robust program for people development, preparing the Fiat plant for a new moment in the industry.

For Stefan Ketter, CEO of FCA for Latin America, the emphasis is in combining quality and efficiency, through increasingly more precise productive processes and shared by the entire productive chain.

Productive revolution through WCM

Since 2007, the plant has been adopting the WCM - World Class Manufacturing production system.

Developed by Fiat itself, through cooperation with world specialists in Lean Manufacturing, the WCM covers all manufacturing aspects (workstation, quality, maintenance and logistics). It is applied in all FCA plants in the world, which share among them the best practices - the major part born from suggestions from its own employees. This process takes place through an interconnected system, raising strongly the quality of the products and productivity of the plants.

WCM is a continuous improvement process, and this is exactly one of most important characteristics of the methodology. "From the moment that a good practice becomes visible in all the plants of the world, automatically, it becomes a standard.  From there, the challenge is to improve it, always thinking and acting globally, in the search for new and even better standards," Jasson Azevedo, Final Assembly manager, emphasizes. He has been working at the Betim plant for 20 years and was one of the precursors in the application of the methodology in Brazil. The plant is also recognized for its dynamism and flexibility, capable of adapting to variations and oscillations of demand, offering quick response in the delivery of the products that the customers want. In a single production line, different models are assembled. The reverse is also possible: a model can be assembled in different lines, simultaneously. At the plant, the amount of parts handled on a daily basis exceeds 3.5 million, supplied by almost 300 suppliers.

The pioneering sustainability practices

Sustainability is present in all sectors of the Betim plant, from final end of the assembly line to the office corridors. Fiat was the first automobile and light commercial vehicle plant in the country to obtain the ISO 14001 environmental management certificate, and also ISO 50001, energy management certificate.

Currently, 99.4% of the water used for producing automobiles is from reuse, an absolute record in the country's automotive sector. This is possible thanks to one of the most modern water treatment and recirculation systems in Brazil, a pioneering initiative of Fiat, fruit of investment in new technologies since 2010.

The Betim plant was also the first in the country to obtain the "Zero Landfill" brand, which means that absolutely no residue is sent to landfills - 97% are recycled and 3% remaining are reused.

Even leftovers of automotive fabric and safety belts have use. They become accessories, like bags and backpacks, through the skillful hands of sewers of Cooperárvore, cooperative of the Tree of Life social program, generating income and integration for the neighboring regions to the plant. Over 25 tons of materials were already reused, in 10 years, within the scope of the program, developed by FCA.

Click here to access historical and current photos of the Betim plant productive process.