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Ford more than doubles engine assembly capacity at PE plant

Ford Ranger Raptor

27th March 2018

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) is expanding its Struandale engine plant, in Port Elizabeth, as part of a R3-billion investment in its South African operations, announced late last year.

The Struandale plant currently machines cylinder heads, cylinder blocks and crankshafts for the local markets, as well as for Thailand and Argentina. The plant also assembles Duratorq TDCi engines for the local market and a number of export markets.

The new investment includes the installation “of a sophisticated new assembly line for an all-new diesel engine that will, most notably, power the exciting new Ford Ranger Raptor when it is launched in 2019,” said Ford Middle East and Africa president Jacques Brent, speaking at a media conference in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

The engine would also be used in other Ford model derivatives, not named on Tuesday.

“At the same time, we are boosting capacity for the current Duratorq TDCi engine that is used in the Ford Ranger, Transit and Everest, with new derivatives and additional European markets being introduced for the local operations,” Brent added.

The R3-billion investment facilitated a new diesel engine assembly hall, located in a totally revamped 3 868 m2 section of the engine plant.

Eight derivatives of the new engine will be assembled at the Struandale plant when production officially starts in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The new diesel engine assembly line has an installed capacity of 120 000 engines a year.

This will add to current assembly capacity of the Duratorq TDCi engine at 115 000 units a year. This is set to increase to 130 000 units a year.

This means the addition of the new engine will effectively take engine assembly capacity at the Struandale plant from 115 000 engines a year to 250 000 engines a year.

MORE DERIVATIVES
Upgrades to the Duratorq TDCi programme adds 22 new four-cylinder engine derivatives to be exported to European markets, including for use in front-wheel-drive Ford models, Brent stated.

“This introduces three significant new customers for the Struandale engine plant, comprising Italy, Turkey and Russia.”

This adds to the existing markets of South Africa, North America, India and China.

With the new derivatives officially coming on line in the fourth quarter of 2018, the engine plant will be assembling a total of 56 variants of the Duratorq TDCi engine.

Installed capacity for the Duratorq TDCi machined components programme is set to increase from the current 254 000 component sets (cylinder head, block and crankshaft) a year, to 280 000 sets a year.

To accommodate the production expansion for the two engine programmes, a new warehouse was built at the engine plant. The 5 418 m2 facility is designed to house all the required parts, components and tools on-site to maximise production efficiency for the two engine programmes.

The engine assembly plant currently operates on three shifts, five days a week, with machining operations working four shifts a day, seven days a week, said Struandale plant manager John Cameron.

Employment at the plant is around 600 people.

It is not yet known how many, if any, additional job opportunities would be created through the expansion of engine production at the Struandale plant.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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