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DPCA moves up a gear to launch production
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NESTLED in the Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is the Chengdu plant of Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile Co (DPCA), a joint venture between French PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Europe’s second largest automaker, and Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corp.
The plant, currently on a trial run, is already being heralded as the biggest project-to-be in terms of output value in the leading auto base in western China, as well as the fastest completed plant in the venture’s history with strong local support.
With a total investment of 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.89 billion), the plant — stretching about 1.66 square kilometers — is a crucial part of the venture’s strategy to build a full product chain. It will mainly produce high-end sport utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles under the Dongfeng, Citroën and Peugeot brands.
After it is put into production in September, the plant plans to have an annual production capacity of 360,000 models of the popular SUV segment in the world’s largest car market. It shows that Sino-foreign joint ventures capitalize on the booming SUV sector in the Chinese market.
“We have already produced nearly 90 sample cars and will send them for road tests to France and Europe,” said Wu Zheng, chief manager of the plant.
“From now on, the majority of mod- els under our brands will be tagged as ‘made in Chengdu.’ We are confident about our technology and feel proud of providing Chengdu-quality to meet the needs,” he said.
The mass production of the plant’s first model, Dongfeng-Peugeot SUV P84, is scheduled for September, and has a production target of 10,000 this year, Wu added.
The production target is supported by DPCA’s fully automated assembly line, said Liu Jinghong, director of plant’s equipment protection department.
“Our overhead crane is able to sling a 20-ton mold to the assembly line in 30 seconds, and complete the production by merging the molds from two sides in the pressing room,” Liu said.
The new plant has also brought new vision for the joint venture.
In its five-year plan announced earlier this month, DPCA said it aims to launch 34 new models and will deliver over 1.5 million units by 2020. Electric cars that could have an endurance of 250 kilometers after charging for just 30 minutes will be unveiled here in 2017.
The Chengdu plant completed its construction in less than 14 months. It officially kicked off its trial production in May.
The speed of construction surprised Louis Gallois, chairman of the supervisory board of PSA Peugeot-Citroën. He called it a “miracle” as it usually takes about two and a half years to build a plant of such a magnitude.
Wu said it was possible due to strong and targeted support by the Chengdu government.
“The local government helped to simplify the flow of procedures, provided quick source of power and made sure the plant had enough land for the planned expansion,” Wu said.
Chengdu government has optimized administrative approval procedures in the past few years. Its number of administrative approval items is comparatively less than its counterparts.
As a key project listed under the 56 major industrial projects undertaken by the Sichuan provincial government, the DPCA Chengdu plant also received support from the Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone, providing a network of integral auto parts makers and cost-saving logistic chain.
Thanks to several workshops built inside the plant, it only takes three minutes for those supporting enterprises from receiving orders from car companies to deliver the parts. And the logistic line was totally automatic and controlled by the computer programs.
The Chengdu plant has already attracted some 30 companies who are engaged in related industries, such as France-based Faurecia, Dongfeng Motor Die and Mould, Fengshen Logistics and Wuhan Dongfeng Hongtai Holdings Group.
According to Wu, the number of companies engaged in related industries is expected to reach 80, supplying more than 70 percent of the auto parts needed by DPCA’s Chengdu plant.
“Wuhan Dongfeng Hongtai alone will invest more than 1 billion yuan in the next five years, creating 1,800 jobs,” Wu said.
In order to promote project efficiency and improve the communication between the Chengdu plant and the industrial park, the Economic and Technological Development Zone set up a special team to release and receive updated information from the plant on a weekly base.
Alternatively, the economic zone has invested more than 1 billion yuan in the construction of infrastructure.
As the leading hub of automakers in western China, the economic zone has attracted investors like Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën, FAW-Volkswagen, FAW-Toyota, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Volvo, as well as many car component suppliers.
Last year, the zone produced about 920,000 units of vehicles, contributing an output value of 141.2 billion yuan.
Han Xu, director of the liaison office of the economic zone, said it was planning to build a 22.3-square-kilometer Sino-French Ecological Park, matching the auto hub with ecological construction, energy saving and environmental protection facilities at the base of the DPCA Chengdu plant.
With the plant set to go into commercial operation, auto production in the economic zone is expected to exceed 1 million cars this year, with an industrial production over 200 billion yuan, Han said.
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