The Ford Figo, which we unveiled last month, garnered much attention in India and around the world. From the common man to the world’s leading news publications — everyone is talking about it. For this fabulous new car, we have a fabulous factory — our rejuvenated integrated manufacturing plant in Maraimalai Nagar, Chennai.
The plant has undergone a comprehensive transformation in the past 21 months. This makeover is part of a $500 million investment, and has shaped the factory into an expanded and state-of-the-art automobile manufacturing facility. And why not? After all, the plant is readying for volume production of the Ford Figo. What’s more, the new facility is poised to become a strategic production hub for the Ford Motor Company.
The plant was originally set up in 1999 with a manufacturing capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year. Post-expansion, the capacity has doubled to 200,000 units. The manufacturing footprint will also house a new engine manufacturing facility to make Ford India a production hub for low-displacement engines, coming up to an installed capacity 250,000 units, due next year. We have enlarged the plant complex from 250 to 353 acres, with 60 percent of built-up area. The remaining acreage comprises lawns and a green belt.
Here’s what else has changed at our plant:
- We move from manual assembly to 30 percent automated assembly, thanks to a flexible body shop that can produce different types of car bodies on one line
- There’s a new paint line featuring the high-tech three-wet high-solids finishing process
- We now have a dedicated testing facility with a 3.2-kilometre quality testing circuit, a squeak-and-rattle testing track for finished vehicles and dynamic water wading test-bed
- New stamping press line with automated crossbar technology
- Extension of the trim and chassis assembly line for flexible assembly of different models.
- New lean
