“Have you ever seen a car factory in India? Been explained, in the highest detail, the entire production process by Heads of Manufacturing? Right from the time that sheets of steel come in, to the car actually rolling out? I’ve been to other factories before, but no one allowed a camera inside. I was pleasantly surprised when Ford accepted my request to click pictures inside their production facility. And why not? Ford has a facility that’s worthy of showing off.” This is what Rush Parekh of Team BHP had to say about his visit to Ford India’s world-class facility at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai.

Ford India took a select group of auto bloggers on an exclusive tour of its state-of-the-art facility on 19 May, 2010. The facility that sprawls over 350 acres has a capacity to produce up to 200,000 vehicles a year and 250,000 engines.

For the invited bloggers, it was a rare opportunity to see a car take shape from a coil of steel. Their tour began at the Blanking, where the coils are cut into flat sections called ‘blanks’. These blanks are then sent to the Stamping, where they are ‘stamped’ into the different parts of the car, such as the roof, side body panels, etc. through both automatic and semi-automatic press lines.

The action then continued at the Body Shop, where the parts of the car are assembled together. The bloggers were fascinated by the sight of 66 robots going about their jobs in their own relentlessly robotic way, carrying out critical processes like spot welding and door hemming.

The Ford India facility uses a hi-tech painting process that’s a first of its kind in India. Called the Three-Wet, High-Solids Painting process, it helps to reduce VOCs emitted while painting the car by 20%. The secret behind this process lies in an increase in the proportion of resins used in the paint versus the solvent, in other words, to increase the ‘solids’ within a given paint sample. As a next step, Ford India’s Paint Shop eliminates the need to ‘bake’, or heat, the car after each coat of paint – the base coat, top coat and the clear coat, thus further reducing emissions. As a result for the consumer get a better paint finish and more scratch resistance on their car!

Next stop was  the Trim, Chassis and Finish (TCF), where the car’s interiors and electrical fittings are installed. This is the area where highly trained Ford India technicians use high-power tools to fit in all the components of the car, from the hand break to steering column and the seats to the exhaust pipes.  At the final stages, the engine, which is manufactured at the Ford India’s New Engine Plant on site, is fitted into the car, the front suspension is fixed and, once the nuts and bolts are tightened, the car get its wheels. Finally, after a quick process of filling the various fluids, the car is rolled at end of the line for its robust validation and quality checks.

“The mechanisms used at every stage of Ford car’s production took our breaths away,” Charu Kishnani of CarDekho wrote on her website after the visit. “The facility is widely spread and has designed a customized robotic mechanism for every phase of manufacturing except the assembling of glasses (front and rear windscreens). Having had a close peep at Ford’s manufacturing utility at Chennai, it becomes clear on why and how the company has been able to deliver outstanding results and great customer satisfaction.”

Part 2 of this exciting visit coming soon!

Ford India and Ford Figo continue to bask in the media spotlight. Here are some snippets from last fortnight’s press coverage.

Economic Times reported that Ford will launch a new model in India every 12 to 18 months, while Wheels Unplugged mentioned the growing number of Ford dealerships in the country, breaching the 150-mark by end-2009.

The Figo got more mileage in the Financial Express and Business Standard with Michael Boneham’s statement that the Figo’s pricing would be “extremely competitive”. The latter story also highlighted that Ford would ensure that the cost of ownership of the car will be substantially low.

Meanwhile, our Chennai plant has begun to garner media space as well, with Mint reporting that the factory would cater to the Asia Pacific and Africa region and the installed capacity for vehicle production has doubled from one lakh to two lakh units. Keep reading this blog for more on the plant and its transformation.

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 manufacturing techniques that are enabled by multiple computer systems, especially useful for build-to-order production of parts and components from the adjacent 35-acre supplier park.

Over the next few posts, we will take you through some of the best features of our plant. Stay tuned!