Peterbilt’s Denton TX manufacturing plant recently celebrated its 40th year of operation.
The plant has served as Peterbilt’s primary manufacturing facility since coming online in August 1980, the manufacturer said, adding it was built with “purposeful innovation and growth in mind.”
The Denton location entered service as a 435,000-square-foot facility situated on 80 acres, and employing 81 people. Today, the facility sits on 238 acres, boasts more than 700,000 square feet spread across multiple buildings, and provides jobs for more than 2,500 people, including two of the original 81 employees—Susan Bishop and Ken Montgomery.
“During the past 40 years Peterbilt has built over 629,000 trucks in the Denton plant and we’re constantly investing and implementing new technologies and processes to improve our quality and efficiency for the future,” said Leon Handt, Peterbilt assistant general manager of operations for PACCAR. “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 inside the Denton plant was added so customers could catch a glimpse of Peterbilt’s past, present and future. It includes the first truck to roll off the Denton plant assembly line, along with other classic trucks, the latest Peterbilt models, cab and sleeper cutaways, a full lineup of PACCAR engines and powertrains, as well as multiple interactive displays.
“In a regular year we have thousands of people touring the Peterbilt Denton Plant,” said Robert Woodall, Peterbilt’s assistant general manager of sales and marketing. “The ability to see our amazing employees utilizing the advanced tools and technology to build each Peterbilt truck to a customer’s exact specifications really shows off the quality of our product. It is one of the strongest selling tools we have.”