It is time for Ford India to cherish and dream big. Ever since the US parent announced its plans to go for a small car in India in early 2008 followed with a committed and fresh investment of $500 million, it has been an exciting time for the automaker. The enthusiasm heightened when Ford spruced up its manufacturing capacity from 1,00,000 cars per annum to 2,00,000 coupled with a 2,50,000 units per annum flexible engine facility. Ford?s CEO Alan Mulally revealed India-designed; features-rich small car ?Ford Figo? in a public preview recently. After lying low for a decade since its inception in 1999 in small car segment, Ford now firmly believes that it is well placed to take on competition, particularly from small car majors such as Maruti and Hyundai. Michael Boneham, President and Managing Director, Ford India says, ?It?s going to be very competitive with the current market leaders and offer a tremendous value story for our consumers. We believe Ford Figo is a big game-changer for Ford that will help transform our brand into a volume player in India.? Though the company felt it too early to talk about exports, but given the capacity expansion, extensive automation and new engine plant, the employees feel that the Chennai plant will become a global hub for small cars, at least for the South East Asian and Asia Pacific markets.
The introduction of the ?Ford Figo? marks a shift for India?s role in Ford?s strategy. Transformed with a production capacity of two lakh units, the integrated Chennai manufacturing facility is now positioned as a Ford regional centre of excellence for small-car engineering and production, explains Boneham. Ford Figo
models will be produced at the plant for export to
international markets.
The plant is also being groomed to produce diesel and petrol engines for local vehicle production and export within Ford?s Asia Pacific and Africa region. Created with a ?best of the best? approach, it has been benchmarked against other competitive facilities globally, as well as the current volume manufacturers in the Indian market, for quality and production efficiency, says Tom Chackalackal, Vice-President, Manufacturing, Ford India.
?It will be a game changer for Ford India as it will enter the heartland of the Indian car market and this great car will be built here in the new and expanded state-of- art facility in Chennai,? he says, adding ?the story in Maraimalai Nagar (the plant site) is about much more than doubling our production capacity.?
?It?s going to be exciting. I am proud to be part of this great team which, is building this A1 quality product,?? shares Karupannan Vijaykumar, Manufacturing Engineer, Quality at the Ford plant.
Ford has made quality a priority in its investment in the plant, which is shifting from a totally manual-build, low-volume facility into a high-volume, automated assembly plant that will produce new cars not just for India but also for international markets. Sudesh Sharma, General Manager, Product Development says ?The high-tech paint shop in Chennai?s plant is the first in Ford?s global history to introduce new high quality, three-wet high solids paint process, which depends on robots to paint each vehicle with incredible precision and evenness of coverage.?
