30 YEARS IN BUSINESS
Party time for Integram
For the past three decades, employees at Integram Windsor (Magna) Seating like Eric Zieba have been making life comfortable for the owners of FCA’s minivans. Working in the plant has done much more than that for Zieba. “I started here in 1990 when my son was one and this place has helped me raise my family,” said Zieba, a 28-year team leader who was enjoying the plant’s 30th anniversary barbecue Wednesday. “It helped me pay off my mortgage, put my son through (engineering) school and next year, when I retire, I’ll have a generous pension with a secure future. “This company and this plant have been good to my family.” The sprawling factory just off Patillo Road now employs slightly less than 1,000 people, about triple the number when Zieba started as an inspector on the assembly line. Wages range from $17.33 to $24.76 plus benefits under the current contract.
The plant’s sole purpose is to supply sets of seats for the minivans produced at FCA’s Windsor Assembly Plant.
The plant may only do one thing, but it does it very well. “Integram was recognized by FCA as a top three finalist for interior quality in 2017,” Integram general manager Mike Magri said. “We’re the first seat maker in FCA’s history to make the top three.” In 2014, the plant was recognized as a finalist for World Class Manufacturing Supplier of the Year. Magri admitted maintaining such quality standards without messing up the economics adds a little pressure to his day. The plant produces 1,380 sets of seats (three rows) daily with a set rolling off the line every minute. “There’s a transport truck leaving the plant every half-hour for WAP,” Magri said. “
“With (just-in-time delivery), it’s expected from the time a set of seats is made they should be in- stalled in a vehicle in 21/2 to three hours.”
Speed and quality is what keeps FCA happy on a daily basis, but Integram’s ability to hang onto its coveted contract also comes down to Magna’s ability to be innovative with a piece of equipment most passengers take for granted. It was Magna’s Purefit process of building the cushions that got us the business in terms of seating,” said Magri, who has worked for 22 years in Magna International’s seating division. “No one else was doing that.”
Unlike the traditional cut-and-sew process of producing seats, Magna’s Purefit is more automated with substantially less sewing and is more cost efficient. Among the other string of firsts attached to the plant are the Stow ’n Go seating concept of folding seats into the floor.
Magna also created the idea of buckets seats in the second row, the 50/50 easy rollout seats, the integrated child seat, rear seatbelts for grocery bags and stainresistant fabric.
The most recent seating innovation is the one-touch fold down system in the new Pacificas.
“It was just foam and springs when I started but now it’s USB ports, screens, sensors, airbags in seats,” Zieba said.
“After the engine and transmission, it’s No. 3 in terms of being very high-tech. If you take the back off the seat, it’s like a computer inside.”
Magri said there’s some concern in the plant about potential U.S. tariffs being imposed on Canadianbuilt vehicles, but the longer-term picture remains otherwise bright with Pacifica’s steadily increasing in sales.
“As long as Windsor Assembly is here, we’ll be here,” Magri said. “Obviously, people are concerned in general about what tariffs will do to business, the community and Canada.”