Ford India expands Chennai plant diesel engine capacity

Ford India Pvt. Ltd. announced that it has completed the expansion of its engine plant in Chennai, increasing annual engine production capacity by 36% to 340,000 units, helping transform the facility into a regional small engine hub. The new facility was completed in record time of just over 14 months and creates capacity in manufacturing more than 80,000 diesel engines annually.
The facility is the first Ford plant in the world with single flexible production line manufacturing petrol and diesel engines. It is also the first Ford facility to run a flexible crank shaft production line producing crank shafts, and to have a fully flexible Cold test, Hot test and Dyno test facility for petrol and diesel engines.
“We are at an interesting phase of growth with the markets demanding swift responses from manufacturers, and I’m proud to say that with this plant’s amazingly flexible production lines of both petrol and diesel engines, we’re well-poised to move quickly,” said Michael Boneham, Ford India president and managing director.
Roll-out of 400,000th engine at Chennai plant
Boneham recently joined the engine plant’s chief, Balasundaram Radhakrishnan, vice-president, Powertrain Operations, Ford India, in cutting a ribbon to mark the roll-out of the 400,000th engine from the plant.
“To be rolling out the 400,000th engine from the Chennai plant in just under four years is an outstanding achievement, and one that everyone involved should be extremely proud,” said Gary Johnson, vice president, Manufacturing, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa. “Ford is currently building seven new plants across Asia Pacific and Africa, and we are making a significant commitment in India, which will see it become a regional hub for low-displacement engine production.”
The US$72 million investment, which has enabled the plant to enhance the Crankshaft Machining, Cylinder Head and Cylinder Block Machining at the Machine Shop with procurement of new equipment has also boosted its ability to handle more complex tasks. Today, the plant produces 12 Duratec petrol engine variants and five Duratorq diesel engine variants, allowing the workforce to hone its skills working on several variants. (July 18, 2012)