Industry News |
by Tristan Wiggill
Ford’s
Fabulous
Fiftieth
It’s not often that we have cause
to celebrate South African
manufacturing these days, unless
we specifically refer to Ford’s
heart-warming story in Struandale,
Port Elizabeth. This Blue Oval’s
engine plant has just turned 50
and, since 1964, has produced over
three million units across eight
engine platforms.
T
he five decades old plant supplies
machined components and engines
to Ford plants in North and South
America and Asia, and is recognised as a
global centre of excellence. It is the only
facility in the world that performs dual roles
for the Ford Ranger engine programme,
which means it machines components and
assembles 2.2-litre and 3.2-litre Duratorq
TDCi turbodiesel engines. Everything is
made in-house, with only the engine blocks
imported from South America.
In a local context, the fully assembled
5-cylinder diesel engines that the plant
produces are shipped to Ford’s Silverton
Assembly Plant in Pretoria for installation
in the new Ranger, which is exported
to over 148 markets around the world.
Roughly 400 complete diesel engines and
800 component kits are made daily, with
➲ Having their cake and eating it: Mark Kaufmann, Jeff Nemeth and new Struandale engine
plant manager, John Cameron, celebrate the occasion
the balance of the parts exported to Ford
engine plants in Thailand and Argentina.
Struandale has an installed capacity of
approximately 220 000 component kits
(comprising cylinder head, block and
crankshaft), as well as 75 000 engine
assemblies for the Ranger programme.
The Ranger continues to be an unequivocal
success for FMCSA, and has done
superbly well in SA. In September this year,
it passed the 3 000 units sold milestone for
the first time and is now hot on the heels of
the traditional bakkie kingpin, the Hilux, in
sales terms. It is also worth noting that the
double-cab Ford Ranger was the overall
winner in the Standard Bank People’s
Wheels Awards for 2015, more of which
you can read about in this issue. Since
January, the Struandale plant has produced
the Power Stroke 3.2-litre turbodiesel
engine for the North
American Ford Transit,
which is assembled in
Kansas City.
This marks the first time
that Ford Motor Company
of Southern Africa is
exporting products to
North America and is
indicative of the belief the
Ford Motor Company has
in the local operation.
➲ The Ford Ranger has its heart set in SA
| Wheels in Action
While that is some
achievement, the plant is
72
perhaps best known in SA for its production
of the RoCam engine, with manufacturing
of that petrol engine getting under way in
1999 and concluding 13 years later after
reaching a total production volume of
1 346 919 units. RoCam engines were used
extensively in several South African models
and were exported to a number of markets
including India, Spain, Germany, Italy,
Russia, Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina
during its production term.
While enjoying the 50-year festivities at the
plant, we were informed of another positive
new development: the entire management
team at the facility has been revised and
is now comprised solely of South African’s
for the very first time. John Cameron is the
new plant manager; Basil Raman the new
operations manager; Neill Stander has been
promoted to programmes & engineering
manager and Ludwe Kawa is the newly
appointed quality manager.
Ford went further with the good news by
promising that 25 new or revised Ford
models would be rolled out by 2016, the
highlight of which is undoubtedly the return
of the illustrious Mustang nameplate - for
the first time produced in right-hand drive
from factory - set to thrash local streets in
late 2015.
Ford has had a presence in South Africa
since 1923, having originally started in
Port Elizabeth, which in the 1920s, was
SA’s motoring hub.
december 2014 / January 2015