American-made Suzukis
August 23, 2005 – Quick quiz: How long does it take assembly line workers to build an ATV at the Suzuki plant in Rome, Georgia?
Answer: 160 seconds.
That's right. Suzuki Manufacturing of America Corporation builds the 400cc Eiger and 500cc Vinson at its state-of-the-art plant in Rome in about 160 seconds per machine. And the workers there will start building the 700cc King Quad beginning this year.
The plant was established in 2001 as Suzuki's first ATV manufacturing facility in the United States. Suzuki poured more than $30 million into the project, and production began in May 2002.
Some 175 people work at the plant.
Walking into the production facility, the first thing that strikes you is how brightly lit it is, and how clean.
Following the production process, you see robotics at work welding frames and then humans doing some welding as well. The frames are run through a powder-coating process unless they are Japanese machines, which have painted frames.
Following the powder-coating process, the frame gets a vehicle identification number stamped on it, and then the real work begins: mounting of the engine, shocks, and everything else involved in completing a machine.
The bodywork is made at the plant in a molding machine that is one of the largest molders in the United States.
Once everything is bolted on, the ATV goes through a final inspection for appearance, and then is started up and run through the gears for a performance test before being loaded on a pallet ready for shipping.
In 2002, the plant produced 46,225 machines. That number jumped to 103,091 in 2003, which was the first full year of production, and was projected to churn out some 137,423 machines in 2004.
Most of those ATVs are sold in the United States and Canada, but some also go to Australia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Spain and Norway.
So the next time you see a Suzuki 400cc Eiger or 500cc Vinson, you can win a bet with a buddy by asking your buddy where he thinks it was built.
He'll probably say Japan, but you know that it was Rome, Georgia.