Visit to the MDJUAN Factory--Repro Jeep parts

[Ryan_Miller]

Guys,

I read this on the G503 announcements section and though it pertinent enough that you might be interested.


From George Mele, Crownsville, MD jamele@erols.com
<MVPA# 10010
Member Washington Area WACBGMVT Club
Member NJ MTA Club
Display and Judging Chairman, Aberdeen East Coast Rally

I just returned from a 3 week visit to the Philippines--visited my son who is a Foreign Service Officer at US Embassy for holidays. Had the opportunity to tour all WWII sites and several Jeep and Jeepney factories including the MDJUAN operation. Would like to share my observations and impressions in this forum and maybe add some first hand info that may correct some of the inaccurate info I have encountered. This is a mix of subjective observation and opinion and should be regarded as such.

DISCLAIMER---I have no personal or business relationship with MDJUAN or any of their distributors.

I looked through the G503 archives for posts about Philippine jeeps, repros, and MDJUAN and conclude there is a lot of opinion pro and con, some misinformation, and a smattering of personal "horror stories" about bad fit and finish,etc. Before this visit my view of Philippine jeeps was biased by memories of what I encountered 30-plus years ago from R&R
visits and transiting Clark AFB and Subic. Ask any former GI about Philippine jeeps and you will get a story that includes memories of roadside "factories" with guys beating out jeep fenders on a tree stump and cobbling together something that looked vaguely "jeeplike" from scrap metal. You will still find that happening today, but MDJUAN is far from that stereotype.

In reality the MDJUAN Jeep parts operation is only a part of a major business conglomerate run by Rommel and Rafe Juan--the third generation to run this family business. They also own and run a Starbucks-like chain of coffee shops, a major fast food and catering chain, a private school, and an ISO 9000 certified manufacturing facility for construction of utility bodies on Japanese truck chassis. This is no back-alley operation but rather a world-class business run by professionals with advanced degrees in management.

I was graciously afforded a half-day tour of the factory, offices, and shipping facility hosted by Mr Bong Cruz and Raymund Martin , heads of marketing and operations.

MDJUAN maintains an impressive collection of restored and "survivor" vehicles representing at least one each of the major jeep military and commercial variants that they manufacture parts for. These are used for reference for fit,finish, material, and manufacturing technique and studied constantly to improve quality and acuracy. In addition, they have a full wall of bookcases filled with jeep reference material, manuals, blueprints, etc to refer to. Most significantly, they closely monitor this G503 forum for new technical information and feedback concerning their products. They take complaints and comments seriously and demand that their staffs deal with and satisfy or answer complaints within 48 hours. They have a local network computer system that tracks orders, inventory, manufacturing, and shipping and a pretty good web site (www.mdjuan.com.ph).

The large factory building is shared between the jeep parts operation and the utility vehicle manufacturing but there is separate staffing and management. The jeep parts component employs around 250 workers, 50 of these being office and management staff. The factory is not state of the art but is operationally functional. Production machinery is somewhat old and a mix of US, Japanese, and european manufacture. Equipment includes the expected mix of shears, brakes, lathes, and mills common to big machine shops but additionally an array of stamping presses from 500 tons to a monster 1200 ton unit--all seemingly well maintained and calibrated . Degreed engineers supervise the calibration of the precision machinery.

Raw materials--sheet steel, tube, angle etc --looked to be of good quality.
It was clean, free of corrosion or inclusion, smooth and straight. As good as the standard found in a good US factory. They buy their steel locally and guess that it is mainly of chinese origin.

Beyond the stamping and shearing operations, most of the fitting and fabrication is done by hand. Windshield frames are jigged,fitted,welded, and finished by skilled craftsmen using hand tools and gas welding. Bodies are individually assembled using a rolling jig/cradle assembly that keeps the panels straight and true while being welded and finished. Multiple pattern templates are used to insure alignment. Completed parts are inspected by supervisors and spot checked by engineers.

The completed body assemblies and almost all steel parts go through a phosphate dip and multiple rinse that cleans the metal and imparts a rust resisting finish like light "parkerizing". The next step was a thorough hand scrubbing with solvent, paint brushes and rags to remove all traces of phosphate residue from every surface and to remove weld spatter and roughness. The workers doing this seemed to pay minute attention to detail and spent a lot of time in the process. This is affordable to MDJUAN management since the average wage is about $6 US a day.

Anything bolted to the body tub is hand primered and fitted prior to spraying to make sure every surface is covered. Body assemblies are re-cleaned and sprayed by hand in an environmentally controlled paint booth using a red oxide 2 part epoxy primer of japanese manufacture. Parts are cured for several days . After the primer has hardened, an inspector marks any apparent imperfections to be ground or wirebrushed out and recoated. Some parts like the combat wheels were being sprayed outside under open sheds, taking advantage of the "dry season" in Manila.

MDJUAN takes great care in packing and shipping. Body assemblies go into hand made fitted crates of mahogany plywood that are braced and padded with lots of bubble wrap. Packed crates are inspected by management prior to being sealed and are then loaded --by MDJUAN employees--into Seavans and shipped to distributors.

In discussing plans for future products, Mr Cruz cited plans to expand the line of parts for later model commercial jeeps including YJs and Wranglers and showed me an early production version of a Hummer style body assembly. This is a scaled down galvanized steel and fiberglass creation that they are calling a "HAMMER".

I questioned why they had not considered making bodies and parts for <M151 variants and explained about the large number of cut and rewelded bodies and "quartered" <M151A2s that have entered the surplus market. Perhaps they could fabricate repair panels to reassemble these demilled bodies?

In sum, MDJUAN is a pretty professional operation that is honestly striving to improve and expand its product line and to improve quality, accuracy, and authenticity. Their latest improvements in materials, inspection, phosphating, and epoxy priming coupled with better attention to packing and shipping have come a long way in recent years. Unfortunately some people still remember the bodies from the early 90's that came pre rusted and "racked" so bad from shipping that they had to be plasma cut and rewelded to fit chassis.

I also visited several "factories" producing neat copies of <M38 jeeps in galvanized and stainless steel--hand made chassis with japanese truck engines and also the Sarao Jeepney factory --hand fabricating the highly decorated Jeepney busses that serve as working-class transportation. If there is any interest in hearing about these I can do a follow up post.

Remember the Aberdeen East Coast Rally in May at the Ripken Stadium.
Bigger and better than ever!!! Be there!


From George Mele, Crownsville, MD jamele@erols.com
_________________
Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010

[wesk]

That's a very good trip report.

However I still feel their jig accuracy leaves a lot to be desired and I base that on personal exposure to fit problems on a CJ2A tub and two M38 tubs the past year. I think Ken can say the same for the better but still not perfect gas tanks.

The majority of complaints posted here and on the "G" were to my observation recent as in the last 5 years worth of bodies. I don't think anyone has complained or belittled the class of manufacture MD Juan is. They have simply stated as a matter of fact how poorly the product matches the correct Willys fit. I would be inclined to pin that on their quality control. The welding is adequate, the paint prime is barely adequate, the shipping box is beautiful but the holes in the floor rarely line up perfect and Willys built items which must bolt to the parts supplied by MD Juan usually have alighment issues.
_________________
Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100

Mjeeps photo album: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules.php?set_albumName=Wes-Knettle&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

[Bob_C]

I live more or less 40 minutes from Darryl Bensingers place, so I've seen his place a couple of times. It is pretty neat actually with all of the replacement body parts they have. I've been fortunite enough that none of my stuff has been out of my reach as far as repairing goes so I havent had to order any replacement body stuff from him.

All of the stuff looks well constructed. Im sure floorboards, gas tank sumps, and stuff like that are great. However, after reading sooo many posts on the G503 about misaligned hat channels, I'm not inclined to buy their tubs. I dont feel like sinking a couple of grand into a body kit and have it not fit on my stock frame.

I'm sure there are people out there that have had luck with their repro tubs. But I've seen far too many instances of their hat channels not be welded in proper positions that I'm just not willing to take that chance. I'd have more confidence buying all of the reproduction panels, then welding them up together.
_________________
Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056