You’ve heard from us earlier on how our Maraimalai plant in Chennai has put in a lot of efforts to be as green as possible. Well, our efforts have been rewarded, because Ford India recently received the 2009 APA Environmental Leadership Award for its innovative efforts to reduce landfill waste. In a ceremony at the Chennai plant, Tony Caon, manager of APA’s Environment Quality Office, presented a trophy to Sandip Sanyal, executive director, Operations, Ford India, and handed out certificates of recognition to members of the Chennai team.

“Our efforts speak volumes of the team’s commitment to make our manufacturing site green,” Sanyal said. ”While we have been transforming and growing our operations, we have tried to be creative and integrate the best environmental practices possible in all techniques and process. It’s a great facility and we feel proud about it.”

Our ”Zero Waste to Landfill” strategy is in line with Ford’s global environmental policy, and we are using alternative ways to dispose of hazardous waste with a rigorous recycling programme. Ford India’s drive to reduce waste has significantly reduced the burden on landfills in Tamil Nadu and has turned otherwise hazardous materials into a useful resource.

“At Ford we recognise that landfills are not a permanent solution and presents potential legacy issues further down the track,” said Caon.

It was our innovative scheme to turn hazardous waste into alternative fuel that clinched us the third annual AP&A Environmental Leadership Award. ”This was a tremendous achievement and we are honoured to be recognised by the region for our green efforts,” said Tom Chackalackal, vice president of Manufacturing, Ford India. ”As we continue to grow the Ford business in India, the implementation of environment-friendly strategies will contribute to our success for years to come.”

Turning waste into fuel

Since the inception of Ford India in 1999, more than 1000 tonnes of hazardous waste such as paint sludge, phosphate sludge, oily rags and sludge from the on-site wastewater treatment plant was stockpiled on-site at the Chennai plant. It could not be disposed of because the Tamil Nadu did not have a secure landfill to handle this type of waste until late 2007.

In 2006, plant managers teamed up with a local cement manufacturer to find a creative solution.

The sludge was dried out in the sun, then packed into bags and shipped, along with the oil-soaked rags, to the cement company. They discovered that the hazardous waste from the automotive plant can be used as an alternative fuel to fire the cement factory’s kiln, and managed to safely dispose of the toxic materials. After seeing Ford’s success, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is looking into disposing of the state’s hazardous waste in a similar way, instead of burying it in a landfill.

Other green initiatives

The Chennai plant often exceeds all Indian environmental regulations. At Ford India, we are proud of our green initiatives, especially the waste water treatment and high-tech painting processes.

For example, Ford India is the first passenger car manufacturing facility in the Ford universe to implement High Solid Three Wet Technology in its painting facilities. As a result, VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions have been reduced by 16 percent: from 50 grams per square metre area of car body painted to around 42 grams.

The ‘three wet’ technology increases the proportion of resin to solvent in the paint. It also employs a new process whereby all three layers of paint – the base coat, top coat and clear coat — are applied one after the other. Normally, vehicles are baked in enormous ovens after each successive coat is applied — a process that throws off significant VOC emissions as the paint dries. But with High Solid Three Wet Technology, vehicles only pass through the oven once, significantly reducing energy usage and VOC emissions.

Reducing water consumption is another major goal that Ford India has set for the Chennai plant. With a three-stage recycling plan, the company aims to cut water usage in the manufacturing process from 3.2 kilolitres per car to less than1.5 kilolitres.

“We have implemented almost 85% of the water recycling process,” explained Karthik, deputy manager, Plant Engineering. ”Already two phases of the plan have been completed and now the average water consumption is 2 kilolitres per car.”

The first stage involves treating gray water and sewage water from the canteen and bathrooms to be re-used in toilets. The second stage involves treating and reusing waste water generated during the manufacturing process. The final step will involve disposing of concentrated waste generated as a by-product of the waste water treatment process.

”We are waiting for the arrival of advanced evaporating equipment to help us complete the third phase of the water recycling plan,” Karthik said. ”We expect to install the equipment in the next four months.”

The monsoons are here! It’s time to pack your bags, get into your car and venture into uncharted territory. Enjoy the lush greenery, picturesque views and enchanting cascades as you drive to your favourite monsoon getaway. But driving in the rains calls for caution and care. The Ford Service team in India recommends some tips to help you drive safely this monsoon.

• Check your car’s condition. The brakes, steering system, tyre pressures, tyre tread depth and defroster operation should be checked regularly so that you’re ready to deal with a downpour.

• Every car should have a good emergency kit. Breakdowns can be stressful. Taking a few steps in advance can save you time, emergency service costs and a headache. Have an emergency kit ready for many different situations. The kit should meet your individual needs and be equipped with items ranging from spares, torch, fuses, tyre inflators, to safety kits and other items to attract or provide help.

• Make sure that your wipers are in good condition and functioning properly. If the blades are brittle or damaged, replace them before the rains begin. Allow sufficient wetting of the windscreen prior to using the wipers to avoid scratching of the windscreen owing to dry wipe.

• Use the windshield washer fluid as recommended by the manufacturer. Using a blend of water and washer fluid will clean the windscreen more effectively than washing with plain water.

• Tyre pressures: Maintain correct cold tyre pressures as recommended in the owner’s manual for different loads. This is even more critical for monsoon conditions since the traction is paramount for vehicle stability.

• Windscreen fogging. Use the de-frost mode with AC ON, in fresh air mode to clear the windscreen of condensation whenever the windscreen gets fogged up. Also use the rear heated window option, if present, since rear visibility improves. Refer to the owner’s manual for usage.

• Drive carefully! Pay attention to your speed and check your tyres. At high speeds, the rains create a fine sheet of water between the tyre and the road surface, which can cause the driver to lose control. This phenomenon is known as ‘aqua-planing’ and is aggravated by excessively worn tyres. Check the tyre tread depth (in the TWI area) and confirm that the depth is within the minimum allowance. The tyre tread helps in throwing out excessive water between the tyre and road ensuring adequate grip.

• Keep the headlights on. When driving in rain, switch the headlights on at a low beam. It will increase your visibility and allow other drivers to notice you from a distance.

• Avoid abrupt braking. Brake smoothly. If you push the brake pedal to the limit, the car will probably slip. It is preferable to come to a lower speed before coming to a complete halt.

• Drive cautiously and maintain a good distance from the vehicle ahead of you. Do not follow large buses or trucks too closely. The spray from their rear wheels will block vision. It also takes longer for a vehicle to stop on wet/ slippery surfaces.

• Avoid deep pools of water. You never know what is under water. Besides, if you drive into a pool at full speed there is a possibility of serious damage to the bumper or radiator. Moreover, a wave of water may hit the engine, causing it to stop.

• Braking after wading through deep pools of water. When driving through water logged sections, water adheres to the brake discs/drums and tends to act as a lubricant, hence increasing stopping distance. After negotiating a water logged patch, apply the brakes gently a couple of times when the vehicle is in motion to dry the brakes out and restore full functionality of the brakes.

• Always be alert for stop signs and things blocking the road. Never drive through flooded and unfamiliar places, turn around and look for another route.

• Avoid driving through standing water- Where water has flooded on the road, drive very slowly. Do not drive through moving water if you cannot see the ground through it. Stop the car before entering the flooded area and check the water level ahead. Generally, if the water is deeper than the bottom of your doors or the bottom third of your wheels, do not drive through it.

• When stuck in mud or slush, shift to first or second gear and accelerate slowly. Don’t spin the wheels. The vehicle could get embedded deeper in the sludge.

Want this list to be more handy? Download our monsoon tips here. Save the file, print it and share it with friends! Drive safely this monsoon. Tell us what you think of these tips in our comments box below.

A Ford car is not just any car. It’s about driving pleasure… it’s about the feeling of being in control while you are behind the wheel… it’s about performance, stability, reliability, ride and handling, and above all being affordable.

Total peace of mind comes with owning a Ford vehicle. It’s all about relishing the experience of car ownership. Our customers are feeling the difference of our efforts, not only because we build cars with superior quality, but because we aggressively pursue a strategy of lowering the cost of ownership.

We value our customers and we know they love our cars. But how much do they really love their Ford? You can hear it straight from them.

We travelled across the country, listening to and recording our customers’ stories and experiences. And, after hearing what they had to say about their ownership experience, we were inspired to put it up on Driving Ford.

This series of first-hand accounts comes from just some of the many proud Ford owners in India.

To kick off the series, we have Anish Iyer, a 23-year-old media professional based in Chennai. He speaks passionately about his Ford Fiesta’s handling on the road and the overall motoring experience. Anish also speaks about his car’s mileage, handling, his experience with Ford service centres and much more.

Anish Iyer on the driving experience:

Anish Iyer on Ford car service:

Keep watching this space closely over the next few weeks to see and hear what our customers have to say about us from across the nation, and look out for more surprises!

This is the second part of an earlier blog post.

After visiting the Ford India Engine Plant, the bloggers were showcased the company’s efforts to reduce the cost of owning Ford cars through its selection of child parts. These child parts reduce the cost of repairing or replacing spare parts by eliminating the need to replace large sections of the car. This is done by simplifying major assemblies into component-level parts. For example, a starter motor, which was previously replaced as a complete unit, has now been classified into several component-level parts such as the arm assembly, housing assembly, bushing, drive assembly and solenoid assembly. Similar child parts are also developed for engine components and transmission systems, to name a few.

“Ford has taken an awesome initiative to reduce costs at both the manufacturing as well as maintenance level. Owners of the Figo will experience very reasonable prices of spares. Add to that, the company has ensured that you don’t need to change the complete part should anything go wrong with a part being made of sub-parts and thus making it cheap to replace,” Faisal of Motorbeam wrote on his blog.

The last stop for the bloggers was the delivery yard, where the cars are stored when they are ready for delivery hundreds of Ford Figos stood waiting to be delivered to dealers. For the car-loving bloggers, it was a fascinating experience to watch the journey of a Ford car from bare metal to the finished product. It gave them all a glimpse into cutting-edge car manufacturing technology. Ford India is a 6-Sigma company, and every process and step is planned to perfection.

“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!

It wasn’t an ordinary ride. And it wasn’t an ordinary car. When Michael Boneham drove off in a brand new Fiesta from our Chennai factory on May 5, 2010, he was driving away in a very special car. It was the 100,000th Fiesta to come off the line in our Chennai manufacturing facility.

Boneham was justifiably proud of the achievement. “The event marks a new milestone for us,” he said. “Ford Fiesta continues to make us feel proud and is a significant product in our portfolio. The popularity of the Fiesta testifies that more and more customers have been reassured by its quality, features and performance.”

Title: Michael Boneham; Sandip, Exec. Director, Operations; Nigel Wark, Exec. Director, Marketing, Sales & Service and Ram Ramanathan, GM-Vehicle Quality with the 100,0000 Fiesta.

The Fiesta is a significant car for Ford in India in many ways. “The Fiesta has helped to positively shift consumer and dealer perception of Ford cars and added emotional appeal to its rationale strengths,” says Vinothkumar. “It has helped Ford create a strong imagery in the premium B segment and will continue to grab attention among the target consumers for many years.”

Title: Michael Boneham president and managing director, Ford India and Ford India employees give the 100,000th Fiesta a big thumbs up.

The six-figure mark is just another milestone in Fiesta’s successful run on the India roads since its launch. The premium sedan has won rave reviews and coveted awards during its 5-year journey. The special edition Fiesta 1.6 S was adjudged the Best Drivers’ Car amongst top 10 cars by Formula-1 driver Narain Karthikeyan in 2008. Fiesta was ranked No. 1 in ‘Total Customer Satisfaction in the Diesel Midsize Segment’ in the TNS Automotive 2009-TCS Study.

Title: 100,000th Ford Fiesta

While these awards mean a lot to us, what truly motivates us is the appreciation and support of those who drive and ride in the Fiesta. People like Anoop Jain. Here’s what he had to say: “Ford Fiesta has been an excellent experience for me and my family in terms of the driving dynamics. There is no comparison with Ford Fiesta when it comes to safety and experiencing the delight of driving. I have booked the new Figo as well, as my experience with Ford cars has been an amazing one.”

Title: Employees celebrating 100,000th Fiesta roll-out.

Or someone like Sandeep Gulati, whose favourite weekend companion, apart from his family, is the Fiesta. “Ford Fiesta has always been an amazing driving experience to the hill stations like Nainital where the roads are rough and bumpy. Fiesta makes the overall drive experience a very smooth and pleasant one,” he says.

Such words are a constant source of inspiration to all of us at Ford. Go Fiesta!

Who is smart and who is smarter? Men or women?

There’s never been an end to this raging debate between men and women, so we decided to settle the matter by bringing to life the concept of “smart and smarter” at the launch of the new Ford Figo in Delhi and Mumbai.

For this, we did the daring thing—we got a newly-married couple to slog it out in a live debate in front of the television, print and web media. The couple was Sandeep and Priya, who were smart and smarter, played by the vivacious Gul Panag and the witty Gaurav Kapur.

In this fun and engaging debate, the husband-wife duo took to the stage with India’s favourite quiz master Derek O’Brien. So while Priya said “smart” was great music, cool comfort, and vibrant colours in a car, Sandeep said “smarter” was phonebook and friends, excellent boot space, and enough leg room for his tall frame. As the couple battled on, Derek offered a solution—the Ford Figo with its smart and smarter features!

As we tweeted about the debate, Gul replied: “[I] loved it:) @gauravkapur was the perfect ‘husband’.”

After the debate, Derek asked Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India what he thought “smart” was. Michael responded: “Smart is cost of ownership!” To which Nigel Wark, executive director, marketing, sales and service added, “Smarter is the great pricing!”

We couldn’t agree more.

Soon after the Ford Figo rolled on to the stage, we asked Rahul Gautam, Ford Figo’s brand manager, about the idea behind this unique creative execution. “There are so many little nuggets in this car. The smart and smarter debate was a nice hook between the Figo and connect with consumers,” he said. Like in a relationship, Rahul explained, “It is not about one being better than the other, but how each can compliment the other to make a great couple.”

This debate was designed specially for the Figo’s launch, bringing the car’s features to life. “It drove home the first message about the smart and smarter features of the Figo,” Rahul said.

All those who saw the debate and experienced the Figo later said that the debate was an excellent out-of-the-box idea, and agreed that the car is a great buy. And they’re right—the Ford Figo is indeed a very cool car!