I show it going to paint on the 23rd. Then the holidays happened. It got picked back up on the 12th and went to inspection/storage on the 13th. I would plan on a February delivery at this point. I'll explain how this happens at the end.
SPP, I've been in paint for two days now, is this a glitch?
p.s. Thank you for everything!
No, it happens. See the end of the post
SPP can weigh in but typically unless an option is on restriction and can't be ordered or there's a supply issue, it should really affect delivery times. Now since the side steps and spray-in bed liner are done by vendors that aren't part of the line, I'm not sure if that is causing delays? It would be interesting if SPP could provide us stats on average delivery times to US vs. Canada based on the vehicles he's graciously tracked for us.
Shipping: Average transit times are quoted from 7 days to Ohio to 31 days to Hawaii/Alaska. Canada is a bit different I believe as I think there is a customs check (definitely from MX->US). Vehicles going east (from Detroit) are trucked across the border to one of a few yards in Windsor and shipped from there. I've seen transit times from a few days to Windsor to a few weeks to Saint Join and the other Maritimes. Canada is typically a bit longer due to the cross border issues. Going west doesn't seem to have that particular problem. Then again, the busiest crossings are the ones between MI and ON.
Body Vendor: See next post
No idea if the Ram trucks are similar to other manufacturers but I toured the Toyota Sienna plant in Indiana 2 separate times. One of those times, they took me over to a separate building where they installed "accessories". It's located on the same site; just a different building. I don't recall how much longer it took to install the extra stuff but I wouldn't think it would be longer than 2 days max. It was actually kind of cool to see how they do it. They have 2 post and 4 post lifts and just do the installations by hand (not automated like the main plant). They did not have a long line of vehicles waiting. I would assume the Ram "extras" would be handled similarly (separate building on the main assembly plant site).
Body Vendor items are handled by an offsite company named
Ground Effects. They have a full robotized factory for the spray liner (insane quality on that spray job...). There is also the upcoming Mopar customization shop inside the plant itself. I believe they are going to handle the side step install and other upcoming customization options. Typically they don't spend more than 2-4 days in the shop but like all manufacturing ops, one event can cause big backups (like a paint booth robot suddenly deciding on its own to make a two tone truck).
Sometimes it appears that a vehicle get "stuck" or "held" at certain points in the process. This is normal and can happen. When you think of an assembly line, think of it in three phases: Framing, painting, and final assembly. It's actually one line in three parts. Between these lines are hold areas that act as a buffer in case one of the phases gets backed up or slowed for a reason (see paint booth example above). It also allows vehicles to be pulled off the line in case there were issues that can't be taken care of on the line. The vehicle is inspected between these points to ensure the quality is where it needs to be at the end of frame, at the end of paint, and the very last and final inspection.
Sometimes a paint robot will miss an area (due to a pressure drop or other issue), a welding machine misses a weld due to an issue, or some other issue happens. These body shells are pulled off the line, fixed and injected back into the line to continue on to the next phase. If they can't be fixed, panels are pulled and the shell is scrapped (rare but it happens). These points are the only places in the process where vehicles can be rearranged or pulled in the production process. Otherwise, it's considered a "frozen rope" once it hits final assembly.
I recently had the pleasure of touring Jefferson North where the Grand Cherokee and Durango are built. It's an amazing, almost magical place if you are a car guy. I learned quite a bit about the process and have better insight on why sometimes VOTS appears to have issues and why things happen when they do. If you want to see a pretty cool video illustrating the highlights of that process, the "Inside Out" video about the 2015 Chrysler 200 is pretty similar to the process you will find at Warren and Saltillo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30x4wfphTuE