Stellantis installed a blanking press at its Warren Stamping Plant in Michigan, adding in-house capacity to produce between 4.5 million and 6 million parts annually for the Ram 1500 and three Jeep models: Wrangler, Gladiator, and Grand Cherokee.
The blanking press produces flat metal blanks before they move to forming operations elsewhere in the facility. Warren Stamping Plant manager Curtis Booth said the press pairs with the plant’s existing high-speed transfer line, known internally as Hellcat, which moves up to 15 pieces per minute through its presses. Together, the two systems allow the plant to both prepare and form vehicle components within the same facility rather than sourcing blanks externally.
Warren and Sterling stamping plants, nine miles apart in metro Detroit, supply structural components including hoods, doors, and liftgates to assembly plants across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Sterling Stamping spans 2.7 million square feet and is among the world’s largest stamping facilities. The two plants operate six coordinated shifts, three per facility, staggered to maintain continuous parts flow while allowing time for equipment maintenance between production cycles.
Ed Daniels Jr., Stellantis vice president of North America injection and stamping operations, said stamping is where vehicle manufacturing begins. The plants feed assembly lines across Stellantis’s North America footprint, and the Warren press addition increases in-house capability while reducing reliance on external suppliers. Stellantis frames the expansion as part of its efforts to meet volume growth targets outlined in its FaSTLane 2030 plan.
The context is less encouraging than the press event suggests. Stellantis reported in July 2025 that first-half revenues fell 13 percent compared to the same period the prior year, with net revenue dropping to 74.3 billion euros. The company blamed sales declines and market-share losses in North America and Europe. Antonio Filosa took over as CEO on June 23, 2025, replacing Carlos Tavares, who resigned in December 2024 amid the declining sales and profit figures.
Stellantis announced in October 2025 a $13 billion U.S. investment over four years to expand production by 50 percent and create 5,000 jobs at plants in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. The Warren blanking press is one piece of that broader manufacturing footprint buildout. Previous stamping investments include a 2014 $63 million upgrade at Warren that added 12,000 hits per day or approximately 3.6 million parts annually, and a 2015 $166 million Sterling expansion that installed three press lines and increased daily stampings by nearly 75,000, or 20 million parts per year.
Quality control at both plants includes the Automated Body Inspection System, which captures images and analyzes part geometry to validate precision before components move to assembly. Greg Bauer, Sterling Stamping plant manager, said the workforce’s ownership and pride across every shift ensures consistent quality and performance. Operators use hands-on expertise alongside automated inspection technology to catch variations before parts leave the facility.
The Ram 1500 and the three Jeep models the Warren press supports are volume nameplates for Stellantis in North America. Whether the added capacity is enough to reverse the sales slide that cost Tavares his job remains an open question, but the company is betting that tighter control over component supply and faster turnaround from blanking to forming keeps its assembly lines moving while competitors wait on external suppliers.
Source: Stellantis. Images courtesy of Stellantis.
