Modules no shell game for Siemens VDO

Workers at the supplier's plant in Santa Catarina, Mexico, assemble seven plastic shells and 26 other components into an air/fuel intake module for DaimlerChrysler's Hemi engine.

To Siemens VDO's way of thinking, if you're going to the trouble of incorporating multiple components into a single part, you might as well incorporate as many components as possible.

And that is just what the company is doing with an integrated air/fuel module for DaimlerChrysler Corp. To produce the 33-piece module-which is actually two submodules-Siemens VDO built a dedicated manufacturing plant in Santa Catarina, Mexico. The module is then delivered from that plant to DaimlerChrysler's nearby Saltillo engine plant for use in the 5.7-L Hemi V8 engine that powers the Dodge Ram pickup.