Up next in 10
Creating the CTC! (Chrysler Tech Center)
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Feb 4, 2025
The story how the Chrysler Tech Center (CTC) and headquarters in Auburn Hills was created, in around ten minutes! #mopar #chrysler #ctc #automotivedesign #auburnhills #highlandpark
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and I'm here to talk about something
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that I found just recently and this is a
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commemorative mug dedicated to Quality
0:06
for the Chrysler Technology Center
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October 1991 Advantage Chrysler and that
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brings up the story of how the CTC was
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created so let's talk about that for a
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bit nobody expected Chrysler to be able
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to build this kind of an edifice this
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kind of a setup with Testing
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Laboratories and at a late time in its
0:25
development uh sort of enforcement of
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the cross functional team approach that
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they were adopting then which they
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called platform teams because it was a
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bunch of people from different functions
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would get together to develop a new
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platform or in reality a new car on a
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new platform so they had one of these
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for the Vipers many say that that was
0:45
the test of the idea and keep in mind
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that this was the same idea that AMC had
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used for many many years because they
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didn't have enough people to have
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specializations in you know to the point
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that Chrysler did they didn't have a big
1:00
enough product line they weren't doing
1:01
enough product development they couldn't
1:03
keep it going Honda though also did
1:06
cross functional teams you could really
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argue that even before the first Skunk
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Works incidentally the original Chrysler
1:13
team The Three
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Musketeers of zader BR and skeleton not
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in that order uh actually worked on a
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cross functional team basis and that
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they actually really did do what
1:24
Chrysler would later call a platform
1:26
team to create the first Chrysler so the
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Chrysler Technology Center was pitched
1:30
by Executives engineers and Architects
1:33
and they all work together on it in what
1:35
John Roberts who was with the project
1:37
from start to finish actually called a
1:39
platform team approach in its own three
1:41
people were involved originally Jack
1:43
Leon from facilities who uh he credited
1:47
with being the father of the whole
1:49
project Gary derer I might be saying
1:51
that wrong from facilities and John
1:53
Roberts himself so they started out in
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plant 4 of Highland Park in an abandoned
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bathroom before the project got its own
2:02
real digs in 1983 the first formal
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engineering team was made up of Bob zenf
2:08
Felder and John Roberts and reported to
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the head of engineering Bob Sinclair who
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incidentally Bob Sinclair had run the
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the valant team which was the first
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modernday platform team or cross
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functional team approach within Chrysler
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the Valiant was a major runaway success
2:25
across the entire world the Valiant was
2:27
successful but after that Bobs and cl
2:30
refused to ever go back and use it again
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until the CTC itself irland Park was
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Chrysler's World
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Headquarters from before it was founded
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in 1925 it was where the first Chrysler
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was developed so what they did was they
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set up their guidelines and what they
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called Black Books not the British TV
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show but books of guidelines and the
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first one was done in 1985 22 different
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approaches had been uh examined now for
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the center's development they then
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looked at four approaches Roaches for
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further uh refinement so they originally
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planned to spend about $500 million on
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this move move the engineering over but
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leave the dino cells where they tested
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engines and leave the headquarters
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behind especially and I can imagine that
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this would have been a very freeing
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experience for the engineers involved on
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the project but Bob Sinclair at
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engineering and some others within
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engineering they really really wanted
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all of engineering to move over
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including state-of-the-art Test
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Facilities and they also deserve credit
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for that because that's exactly what
3:32
happened there and without those
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state-of-the-art Test Facilities
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probably Chrysler's Resurgence in the
3:38
1990s would not have happened or it
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would have looked very different and not
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as good that that included pretty much
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everything that was there that plan as
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of 1985 other than a fullscale acoustic
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wind tunnel and that was a great thing
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to have this was one way that they could
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catch up and surpass competitors so the
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team working on the CTC grew to several
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hundred people including engineering
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manufacturing purchasing and finance as
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you'd expect hundreds of people had to
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be a standalone team to work cross
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functionally and get it done and without
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that setup it probably never would have
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happened or at least it would not have
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looked as good as it did in mid 1988 the
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board approved a $1.6 billion new budget
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for the program because it had expanded
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quite a bit as you can
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see uh and at that point the development
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team moved to Auburn Hills now keep in
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mind that in 1987 chryler bought
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American Motors and so they were already
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planning this headquarters when they
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bought AMC but uh it really came in very
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handy after they had AMC because that's
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when all the stuff about cross
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functional teams actually developing
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cars came to pass and that's when
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franois cin came over and took over as
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head of engineering and he was very very
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much into Innovation he did not stand
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still and let the grass grow under his
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feet we will all Miss franois castang
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and his influence on uh what was then
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Chrysler what is now FCA us or stantis
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depending on how Global you want your
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view to be Now Lea aoka retired in 1992
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and by then the cross functional teams
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were already at work and they were doing
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their thing in the new CTC and then they
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they uh commissioned more things they
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had the full scale Aero acoustic wind
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tunnel uh completed in 1999 and this is
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after Daimler took over but it was
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planned in the late 80s and early 90s so
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it's pretty impressive really that the
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building was still being put
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together now uh John Roberts wanted to
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give credit to uh the people that I've
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mentioned as well as Chris Theodore who
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optimized the use of the facilities as
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they went up so Chris Theodor was one of
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the people on the team who emphasized
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that cars had to be built in a uh cross
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functional approach where you had people
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from different parts of of engineering
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and people from manufacturing and people
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from electronics and all that you have
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to have everybody working together so
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that you get an integrated system
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because a car is not a bunch of parts
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it's a system of parts and the better
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they work together the better the car
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and it's kind of funny but you know it's
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like the airflow uh was one of the first
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cars where the front and rear suspension
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was designed to work in
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harmony that hadn't really been thought
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of before and then you end up in the 60s
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you still have front suspension and rear
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suspension designed by different people
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and that is what the CTC helped to do uh
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they probably would have had a much
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harder time switching to the cross
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functional team approach platform team
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approach if they had had to stay in the
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Highland Park engineering offices where
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you might have to go to a different
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building or at least a different floor
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if you were say uh a a mechanical
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engineer and you needed an electronic
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engineer or an electrical engineer if
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you are working on uh the suspension and
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you wanted to talk to the guy who's
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designing the front
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suspension and if you read the stories
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about the Valiant development you find
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that there were a lot of areas where
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just being in the same room solved
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problems and the same was true you can
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find in my Viper
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book stories about well I was working on
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this and the guy next to me heard me
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saying this and he said well you know I
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have a solution for you so there's a lot
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of problems that get solved if people
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are in the same room or at least in in
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the same general area and Chris Theodore
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said and I wish I had still had the
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audio for this that the only bad part of
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the facility was that the executives in
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Highland Park who were at the old
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headquarters they got very lonely down
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there and they got envious and so Bob
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Eden then the CEO and the other leaders
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decided they had to move to the Chrysler
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Technology Center and that required
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building on the headquarters Tower uh
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which is the one with the great big
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pentar belt in that supposedly diimler
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tried to have removed oror also
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mentioned he thought that leuka was was
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kind of nuts to be wasting money like
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that at the time when the company was in
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uh rough times but it turned out quote
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to be one of the greatest enablers to
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creating the team's cultural change uh
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this mug which I've had set aside for
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the life me I can't recall who gave it
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to me I wish I could um it was Christ
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glor's Advantage it helped them to
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become a state-ofthe-art company it
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helped them and you know I realized that
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for some of you especially the younger
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viewers you you think of
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Chrysler it's very different now in 2024
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than it was in the early and mid 90s and
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in the late '90s Chrysler was at one
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point making what critics called the
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best cars in their class uh they were
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doing it well they were creating new
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spaces they were getting new ideas out
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um they
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revitalized the large car the large
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sedan segment which was just about dead
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when they came out with the Intrepid the
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New Yorker the Concord the Eagle Vision
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uh that group of cars Revitalize the
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segment you would not have believed the
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difference between something like the
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Plymouth Sundance which they lost
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thousands of dollars on every one that
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they sold three or $4,000 on each one
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maybe in even $5,000 and this was a car
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that uh that you could buy for
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$8,000 and then they replaced that the
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neon which was the best in its class in
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performance by
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far and cost a little bit more but they
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made a profit of thousands of dollars
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even with the warranty problems that
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they had with that car due to uh Bob
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Eden reportedly allegedly cheaping out
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on the design even with those warranty
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costs taken into account the Neon made
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money as a small car that was
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revolutionary for an American maker at
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the time so Chrysler used to be a
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serious autom maker that people really
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respected and took seriously not that
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long ago and yes that did all end when
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they merged with Daimler um part of it
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was damage to the reputation from all
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the journalists saying oh that's good
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we'll mix up Chrysler's styling which
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wasn't their main point although they
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were good at it uh with daimler's
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engineering and quality and at the time
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Chrysler was trouncing diimler in
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long-term durability and quality study
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so it's a sad story what happened to
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Chrysler but parts of Chrysler's history
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are really what's the word inspiring and
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it can tell you what to do and in this
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case you had this company that looked
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like it was dying in the late
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80s and they put their money and their
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time and their effort into this new
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facility and it did give them a new
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lease on life along with the new
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processes that it helped along and it
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and chry was reborn until
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1998 so I'm Dave from motels I hope that
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you'll come back for more
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