Kenworth Truck Company held a groundbreaking ceremony last week to officially announce the start of construction on a state-of-the-art US$140 million, 120,000 square-foot paint facility addition to its class 8 truck assembly plant in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The new, environmentally friendly facility, expected to open in 2021, will be built next to the current plant. The expansion represents a nearly 25% increase to the current 502,000 square-foot plant, which is located on a 120-acre site 50 miles south of Columbus, Ohio. The facility will utilise the latest technologies to increase paint capacity by 50%, while also enhancing the plant‘s industry-leading product quality, and award-winning environmental stewardship programmes. Advanced technologies integrated into the new facility include state-of-the-art robotic paint application systems and the latest in emissions control systems.

“Our investment in this outstanding new facility highlights Kenworth‘s focus on leveraging technology to continually enhance the quality of the products we provide our customers, while also reinforcing Kenworth‘s commitment to the production of industry-leading class 8 trucks by the more than 2000 outstanding employees at our Chillicothe plant,” said Kenworth general manager and PACCAR vice president Mike Dozier.

Complementing the investment in the new Chillicothe paint facility, and scheduled for completion this (northern) summer, is the installation of a new US$33 million robotic cab assembly cell. The cell will occupy 40,000 square feet on the existing production floor and will support the continued market share growth of Kenworth‘s T680, T880, and W990 models.

Earlier this year, the Kenworth Chillicothe assembly plant received a 2019 Manufacturing Leadership Award from the Manufacturing Leadership Council of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The award recognised the Chillicothe team‘s development of innovative material handling systems that protect paint quality throughout the assembly process.

The plant also earned the 2018 Encouraging Environmental Excellence ‘E3‘ Gold Award from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The award recognises businesses, nonprofits and government agencies in Ohio that demonstrate the commitment to exceed regulatory compliance and deliver exceptional achievements in environmental stewardship.

Kenworth‘s plants in Chillicothe, Ohio, and Renton, Washington, hold the prestigious International Standards Organization (ISO) 14001:2015 certification for effective environmental management systems established to help build class 8 trucks in an environmentally sustainable manner.