Existing Car Factory Reports - For those interested in the science of car manufacturing:
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Ford's Chennai Factory
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Jaguar's Castle Bromwich (UK) Factory
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Apollo Tyres Chennai Factory
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Tata Motors' Factory
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Hyundai's Chennai Factory
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Eicher
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Mercedes
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Piaggio
Ford has just inaugurated their latest factory in India, located in Sanand, Gujarat. The inauguration was attended by dignitaries like Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel, Ford Motor Company CEO - Mark Fields, Ford Asia Pacific President - David L. Schoch and Ford India President - Nigel Harris. Team-BHP was invited to attend the official launch of the plant and take a quick look at the facility before scale production begins. Ford also surprised attendees by unveiling the Ford Figo Aspire compact sedan. Here's a look at the plant that will supply cars to India and the world, along with a glance at the car that Ford hopes, will replicate the success of the EcoSport.
Here are some high points of Ford's Sanand plant:
- Ford has invested INR 6200 Crore (US$ 1 Billion) for the facility that consists of the vehicle assembly and engine plants.
- The facility spreads out over an area of 460 acres.
- Talks for facilitating the land acquisition and construction of the plant began in September 2011.
- Annually, the vehicle manufacturing plant in Sanand will have an initial installed capacity of 2.4 Lakh units, while the engine plant will have an initial capacity of 2.7 Lakh units.
- Ford's installed capacity in India (Sanand + Chennai) now stands at 6,10,000 engines and 4,40,000 cars per annum.
- The new plant will launch with single shift operations supported by around 2,500 employees.
- The factory can support manufacturing functions such as stamping, body-work, paint, engine machining and assembly for both vehicles & engines.
- The plant's paint facility uses Ford's "three-wet" paint process that allows three coats of paint to be applied and dried simultaneously. Ford claims this technique makes the process more efficient and drops the paint shop's CO2 emissions by up to 25%.
- Ford's factory is located merely 2-3 kms away from Tata's Nano plant in Sanand.
- The North American car maker has introduced its Happy Schools program in 10 schools close to the plant as part of its ongoing CSR work - more about happy schools.
- Multiple component suppliers are said to have moved to Gujarat within close proximity of the plant to ease up the production pace and bring further employment and investment to the region.
- Ford currently exports the Figo and EcoSport to more than 37 markets globally.
An aerial view of the 460 acre plant:
The main entrance to the facility:
The Figo Aspire is the very first car that will be produced here for domestic as well as export markets:
Ford's flag between the Indian & USA flags:
Walk into the plant and you are transported to a different world:
The factory is nothing short of a mini city:
New plant, new car, new journey:
The employee canteen:
This medical centre looks better than most hospitals in Tier-I metros:
2nd-gen Figo hatchback will also be coming up soon:
Safety is usually top priority in MNC facilities:
Safety pledge board with employee signatures:
Wise words by the man himself, Henry Ford:
See the two yellow lines to the right? Those demarcate the walkway for people. The wide path serves as the track for machinery & golf carts used to get around the plant:
One of the many battery-powered karts that get people around
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The first glimpse of the body shop:
A closer look at the underbody-backbone line:
A large display on the daily targets:
The inspection / repair station:
The Figo Aspire's roof:
The roof loading station:
Kawasaki heavy-duty machines in the manufacturing process, including these "assembly-bots":
The Ford Figo Aspire's chassis:
These bodies are part of the trial production phase:
~2,500 employees will be manufacturing vehicles for India and the world. A majority of them are locals: