Peterbilt’s Denton, Texas, manufacturing plant celebrates its 40th year of operation. Since its beginnings in August 1980, Peterbilt’s Denton plant has become the main manufacturing facility for the brand.
The Denton plant was built with purposeful innovation and growth in mind. The plant began operation as a 435,000-sq-ft facility with 81 employees on 80 acres of land. Today it sits on 238 acres, employs over 2,500 people and has over 700,000-sq-ft of space spread over multiple buildings. Of those original 81 employees Peterbilt congratulates Susan Bishop and Ken Montgomery who are still working at the plant today.
“During the past forty years Peterbilt has built over 629,000 trucks in the Denton plant,” says Leon Handt, Peterbilt assistant general manager operations. “We’re constantly investing and implementing new technologies and processes to improve our quality and efficiency for the future. The past five years alone have seen investments in automated overhead parts storage and retrieval, automated guided vehicle assembly lines, additional emissions reduction equipment, a brand new test building as well as numerous enhancements throughout the plant.”
THE PETERBILT EXPERIENCE
Additionally, Peterbilt added The Peterbilt Experience inside the plant for customers to see glimpses of Peterbilt’s past, present, and future. It includes the very first truck to roll off the Denton plant assembly line along with other classic trucks. This includes latest Peterbilt models, cab and sleeper cutaways, lineup of PACCAR engines and powertrains and also multiple interactive displays.
“In a regular year we have thousands of people touring the Peterbilt Denton Plant,” says Robert Woodall, Peterbilt assistant general manager of sales and marketing. He also says having the ability to see employees using the plant’s advanced technology and tools to build trucks to customers’ specifications shows off the quality of Peterbilt products. “It is one of the strongest selling tools we have,” Woodall says.
Find out more, visit www.peterbilt.com.
