Ford India Expands Engine Plant by 36%
As we gear up to move to the next stage of growth in India and the region, Ford India today announced the completion of expansion of its engine plant, increasing the annual engine production capacity by 36% to 340,000, helping transform the facility into a regional small engine hub.
The new facility that was completed in record time of just over 14 months is the first Ford plant in the world with single flexible production line manufacturing petrol and diesel engines. It is also the first Ford facility to run a flexible crank shaft production line, along with flexible facility of Cold test, hot test and Dyno test for petrol and diesel engines.
The plant now churns out an additional 80,000 diesel engines annually to meet the complete the supply chain. This additional capacity will feed the surging demand for diesel power trains in India and growing exports, in return providing employment opportunities for locals.
“We are at an interesting phase of growth with the markets demanding swift responses from manufacturers, and I’m proud to say that with this plant’s amazingly flexible production lines of both petrol and diesel engines, we’re well-poised to move quickly,” Boneham added.
Boneham recently joined the Engine Plant’s chief, Radhakrishnan Balasundaram, Vice-President, Powertrain Operations, Ford India; in celebrating a tremendous milestone of the 400,000th engine roll-out from the plant.
Ford is currently building seven new plants across Asia Pacific and Africa, and we are making a significant commitment in India, which will see it become a regional hub for low-displacement engine production.
One Plant: Many Smart Steps
- Today, the plant produces 12 Duratec petrol engine variants and five Duratorq diesel engine variants, allowing the workforce to hone its skills working on several variants.
- Nearly 40 percent of engines manufactured here will be exported — 1.6 TiVCT, 1.4 HC and Duratorq engines will be exported to markets such as South Africa, Thailand and Taiwan.
- It’s a green plant!
- The plant has the lowest water consumption among all Ford plants worldwide
- Uses vegetable-based cutting coolant for machining: An environment-friendly oil
- The plant has been awarded Ford’s technical excellence award (TMM) for four consecutive years
