Pallets for vehicle assembly plants
Assembly plants receive parts on supplier pallets and send back empties, so the pallets that matter near a plant are the ones arriving and leaving the dock, not the vehicles.
The plants
| Plant | Where | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Sterling Heights Assembly | Sterling Heights | Builds the Ram 1500 in a 5,000,000 sq ft plant with 7,008 employees (2022) |
| Jefferson North Assembly | Detroit | Opened in 1991; builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango; 5,096 employees (2022) |
| Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack | Detroit | Builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee; 4,103 employees (2022) |
| Warren Truck Assembly | Warren | Opened in 1938; 3,518 employees in 2023; builds the Jeep Wagoneer |
| Factory Zero | Detroit-Hamtramck border | 365 acres and 4,500,000 sq ft; builds electric pickups and SUVs |
| Ford River Rouge complex | Dearborn | Completed in 1928, 1.5 miles by 1 mile; builds the F-Series |
Those are figures from public records, with the year the record gives. They are here to show the scale of the dock around each plant, not to say what any plant does with its pallets.
What arrives and leaves
Parts come in from the supplier base on pallets in the sizes covered on the 48 x 45 and 48 x 40 pages. Empties, damaged pallets and mixed returns leave in a steady trickle. A plant dock generally has its own arrangements, so the opportunity is usually at the supplier or sub-tier supplier docks around it. See automotive suppliers.
Around the plants
- Dearborn for the Rouge complex.
- Detroit for Jefferson North, Mack and Factory Zero.
- Hamtramck beside Factory Zero.
- Warren and Sterling Heights for Warren Truck and Sterling Heights Assembly.
- Orion Township for the GM Orion Assembly plant.
What a neighbor dock should do
Count what leaves
A weekly count of empties by size is the number any buyer will ask for first.
Split 48 x 45 from 48 x 40
They arrive from different customers and pile together.
Keep cores apart
Broken pallets belong in their own stack. See pallet cores.
Set a pickup day
Pickup works best when it is regular.
Questions near the plants
Does an assembly plant sell its own pallets?
Large plants usually manage pallets through their own channels.
What about the trucks that queue outside?
Haulers and yards near a plant often hold empties between runs. Those are the docks this request is for.
Do EV plants use different pallets?
Battery modules are heavy and specific. Ask the supplier of the module before choosing a pallet.
Scale tells you the flow
A plant with 7,008 workers and 5,000,000 square feet takes in an enormous number of parts a day. Even if only a small share of the pallets that carry them are available for resale, the volume is large. The result is a ring of small and medium docks around each plant, with the plant itself at the center.
Shutdowns
Plants close for retooling and holidays, and pallets pile up before the break. Tell a buyer when yours does.