Ford India has successfully finished capacity extension of its Chennai Engine plant, boosting up the annual production to 340,000 units. The plant manufactures about 17 variants of petrol and diesel engines, out of which about of 40 percent is exported. With the capacity extension of the facility, it will strategically position Chennai as a regional hub for small engines. Ford India is set to roll out its One Ford plan with Chennai’s state of art flexi Power Train facility delivering its 400,000thengine.
Ford India announced completion of expansion of its engine plant, which increased the annual engine production capacity by 36% to 340,000, helping to transform the facility into a regional hub for small engines. The facility was finished in a record time of over 14 months and helped to create a capacity which can deliver about additional 80,000 engines annually.
The extra capacity will be used to feed the upcoming demands for diesel engines in India and abroad. This is ought to generate more employment opportunities through the new extension. The new plant has already recruited about 200 employees.
President and Managing Director of Ford India, Michael Boneham said that they are delighted to witness this new addition in their engine plant capacity as the company is gearing up to move ahead to the next phase of growth in Indian region.
It is the world’s first Ford plant to include single flexible production line for manufacturing petrol and diesel engines. It is also first Ford facility to run flexible crank shaft production line for producing crank shafts. The facility also hires fully flexible cold test, Dyno test and Hot test facility for diesel and petrol engines.
Boneham also added that they are at an interesting phase of growth along with the market demanding swift responses from the manufacturers and company is quite proud to present this plant’s amazing flexible production lines both petrol and diesel engine.
Boneham joined Engine Plant’s chief, RadhakrishanBalasundaram for the celebration of the roll out of 400,000th engine from the facility.
Radhakrishan said that this is a special occasion for any Ford family member at the Chennai plant. The commissioning of the facility in a record period is a tremendous achievement and it just sums up many significant milestones this plant has passed in terms of quality and safety.
Gary Johnson, VP manufacturing, said that the production of 400,000th engine from the Chennai plant in just four years is an incredible achievement. He also added that Ford is making about seven different plants in Asia Pacific and Africa and are investing considerable amount in India, to shape it as a regional hub for low displacement engine.
Commissioning of the extended facility is one of the key steps of Ford India to transform into a major exporter and manufacturing hub of small displacement engines i.e. 1.6 TiVCT, Duratorq and 1.4 HC engines. These engines will be exported to South Africa, Taiwan and Thailand.
