Ford ramps-up P/Elizabeth’s engine capacity

Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa’s (FMCSA’s) Struandale engine plant, in Port Elizabeth, recently launched Job 1 of its latest generation Duratorq TDCi engines. Production of the new units sees installed capacity at the plant increase from 75,000 to 110,000 units on engine assembly, while machining capacity expands from 208,000 to 265,000 component sets. This comprises of a cylinder head, block and crankshaft, by 2016.

With the existing programme, the plant was previously producing Duratorq TDCi engines for the Silverton Ranger assembly plant, in Pretoria, while also exporting engines to Ford’s Kansas City assembly plant, in the US, for the North American Transit van. With the new programme, FMCSA will now also be supplying engines to Ford’s Chennai plant, in India, and JMC, in China.

This is in addition to the machining of components for export to the Ford Pacheco plant, in Argentina, and the AAT facility, in Thailand. The new engines will power the new Ford Ranger, due to be launched in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa markets in October.

Ford’s new Duratorq engines that comes in both 2.2 l four-cylinder and 3.2 l five-cylinder capacities feature a raft of changes that Ford says will improve fuel economy, lower emissions and reduce noise, vibration and harshness. A total of 80 new parts are used on the new specification engines, with the main changes being applied to the cylinder head to improve emissions and fuel efficiency.

“We have incorporated the latest technologies, machining and assembly processes for the new generation engine and focused on making our operations more efficient,” says Ford Struandale engine plant manager John Cameron.

This has allowed the company to increase capacity without having to invest in new equipment, he notes. “The expanded engine line-up has also increased the number of engine derivatives we produce from 14 to 27, which adds a lot of complexity to the machining and assembly lines.”

The new engines will also be used in the Ford Rangers’ assembled in Nigeria from semi-knockdown kits shipped from the Silverton plant when the new facility opens in Ikeja later this year. South African-built Rangers will be exported to 148 markets in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

MIKE OCHONMA