This week, Chrysler’s top management made their way to Tipton, Indiana, to dedicate the opening of a new factory. The Tipton Transmission Plant, as it is now known, will be the global site for construction of the ZF 9HP nine-speed transmission that’s currently found in domestic models like the Jeep Cherokee and Chrysler 200. This new factory will help vastly increase the production of the nine-speed automatic transmission, which is used to increase fuel economy in these two current models. The nine-speed may find application in other vehicle models within the corporate fold in the near future, as well.    

At this point, the Tipton Transmission Plant employs 204 people. That number is expected to rise to 850 by December of next year.

Notable figures present at the ceremony included Chrysler Group Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne, Tipton mayor Don Havens, and UAW Local 685 President Rich Boruff. The 782,000 square-foot facility represents Marchionne’s fulfillment of a promise made back in February of last year, when he remarked that the company would invest $162 million in the establishment of the plant, as well as employ up to 850 people by the end of 2015. Currently, that number rests at 204.

“My confidence is rooted firmly in the knowledge that those of you who work in this area have shown a consistent dedication to delivering products with outstanding quality,” said Marchionne. “You have embraced the principles of World Class Manufacturing, which is enabling us to compete with the best manufacturers in the world. You are the authors of a major success story, creating a great turnaround and making it possible to create the need for this new plant in Tipton.”

The plans and hopes for TTP are huge. Once it reaches full capacity, the factory is expected to produce 800,000 finished transmissions for distribution to Toledo, Ohio; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Melfi, Italy; Tofus, Turkey; Pernambuco, Brazil; and China.

Three sister factories will play a role in the building of the transmission as well. These include Kokomo Casting, which will handle the castings; Kokomo Transmission, which will construct the prismatic parts, like the housings; and Indiana Transmission Plant I (ITPI), which will build the rotating parts, like the gears and crankshafts. All of these parts will make their way to TTP for final assembly.