Ford’s Struandale engine plant has produced its first machined component sets, marking the launch of the company’s Duratorq TDCi diesel engine export programme and positioning Ford Motor Company of South Africa (FMCSA) as a key player in Ford’s global supply network.
FMCSA has invested R3-billion over the last year in its facilities at Struandale for the production of the new engine and Silverton for the assembly of the new Ranger bakkie, which is also destined for the export market.
“Today, we celebrate a new era for the Ford Engine Plant as it officially comes on line as a strategic supplier of machined components for the global Duratorq diesel engine programme,” said Jeff Nemeth, FMCSA president and CEO.
Although the investment programme was finalised in early 2010, the engine plant had already undertaken significant revisions since 2009 in preparation for this export programme. The Struandale plant has been completely revamped over the past two years. This involved consolidating and moving much of the existing RoCam component machining and engine assembly lines and completely overhauling the 16 514 m2 of floor area that Ford’s new diesel engine programme occupies.
The Duratorq diesel engine export programme involves the machining of 220 000 component sets a year, comprising the engine head, crankshaft and block. Approximately 75 000 of these will be used for local engine assembly. The balance of the components will be exported to Thailand and Argentina.
“We are extremely proud to reach this important milestone, having met all of the deadlines and quality standards during the build-up, as well as the validation process, trials and pre-production machining,” explained Wallace Yearwood, plant manager of the Struandale Engine Plant.
The plant will commence assembling its first production Duratorq diesel engines on 27 June. The engines will be shipped to the Silverton Assembly Plant for installation in the new Ranger, with full-scale production of the bakkie scheduled to begin at the end of September for the domestic market as well as exports to Africa and Europe.
