- An extensive automation drive brings new levels of precision and quality to the Maraimalai Nagar plant. It uses high-tech robotics for key operations throughout the production process, including flexible underbody welding and upper body framing fixtures to handle complex and unwieldy tasks with high levels of precision – the foundation of lasting quality.
- A new 3.2-kilometre circuit developed on the plant’s expanded grounds allows engineers to conduct rigorous 40-kilometre quality test drives on new vehicles using a variety of road surfaces and manoeuvres. Additionally, every new vehicle undergoes a squeak-and-rattle torture course to verify build quality before it is released to a Ford customer.
- India’s unique monsoons inspired Ford’s water-wading test, which involves driving through water 450mm deep. Afterward, engineers confirm that the body has no leakage and that mechanic systems are operating normally. It’s one of many Ford quality assurance tests.
- Automated transfer and handling aids for outer skin body panels and critical assemblies ensures high-quality surface finishes, precise assembly and perfect dimensional integrity.
CHENNAI, India, Sept. 3, 2009 – Ford’s $500 million investment to transform its integrated manufacturing facility near Chennai is about more than producing a new car – it’s about making a quantum leap in quality.
Ford is doubling the capacity of its Maraimalai Nagar plant for volume production of a soon-to-be-introduced new car. That means extensively re-equipping the plant with a far higher level of automation and new, high-tech processes aimed at achieving global standards of new-car quality. Plus, from a new 3.2-kilometer quality test circuit to a dedicated squeak-and-rattle torture course to verify build quality, Ford is backing its new production facilities with an array of quality assurance measures.
Across the 353-acre site near Chennai, Ford’s quality commitment is at the forefront of a world-class transformation.
“The story in Maraimalai Nagar is about much more than doubling our production capacity,” said Tom Chackalackal, vice president, Manufacturing, Ford of India. “It’s about introducing volume manufacturing processes benchmarked against other global manufacturers, and the best of the Indian manufacturers, for quality and production efficiency. And it’s about a mindset across the organization that’s absolutely committed to quality.”
The quality story for the expanded plant near Chennai starts with more than a decade of embedded Indian engineering experience that’s built into new Ford products for the market. The experience helps to shape product attributes especially for market conditions. A spirit of continuous improvement guides the Ford quality engineering approach, so lessons learned on each subsequent product on Indian roads goes into new products like the much-anticipated new car which will be produced at the new plant starting in 2010.
“Our products from this transformed plant are going to reshape customer opinions about the Ford brand for years into the future,” said Ram Ramanathan, general manager, Vehicle Quality, Ford India. “We know that quality is one of the key pillars our brand stands on and the spirit of commitment to achieve world-class quality is inspiring.”
Ford has made quality a top 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 export. Ford is equipping the plant to deliver products to global quality standards.
Precision Build – Right First Time, Every Time
As the Maraimalai Nagar plant shifts to higher production volumes with greater flexibility and speed, world-class quality objectives demanded higher levels of automation. That called for an array of high-tech robotics – a total of 92 new robots have been installed in key areas of the body shop, paint shop and final assembly.
The job of the robot is to do repetitive tasks with absolute precision job after job, especially jobs that are unwieldy for workers to do unaided. Once programmed for a complex set of tasks by its human masters, a robot can work speedily, precisely and repeatably.
“Building a product right first time, every time, is the foundation of vehicle quality,” Chackalackal said. “A modern automobile plant needs robotics to get the precision that’s essential to a well-constructed vehicle.”
A key area that introduces robots is the plant’s body shop, which has been fitted with automated underbody framing robots, which build the lower structure of the vehicle. The need for precision is absolute, as large metal structures are assembled and spot-welded into vehicle floorpans. These new operations at Maraimalai Nagar are not only speedy and reliable, but they’re also flexible to build different vehicles one after the other.
The new body shop line will build vehicles in Ford India’s current product portfolio as well as the soon-to-be-introduced new model.
Similar robotic framing machines are used for upper body structures of the different Ford cars in the Indian portfolio.
The body shop welding robots are equipped with new servo motor welding guns, another Ford investment in quality. They’re not only quieter than previous welding-gun technology, and they deliver high-quality welds which are cleaner, with reduced expulsion and burring. Servo motors allow the welding tips to be brought smoothly into place, which helps to eliminate distortion of the metal and ensure stable weld pressure. The plant uses automatic error-proofing technology to measure build precision. Additionally, the plant has been equipped with precise part checking fixtures that allow engineers and manufacturing technicians to verify build precision – down to the millimeter. These fixtures have been developed for individual components from a headlamp or door assembly up to a complex structure, such as an entire body shell or subframe assembly.
Additionally, a portable measuring machine is used to verify that jigs and fixtures involved in production are perfect in dimension. This is another step in quality journey.
Maraimalai Nagar’s high-tech paint shop is the first Ford car plant globally to introduce the new high-quality Three-Wet High-Solids paint process, which depends on robots to paint each vehicle with incredible precision and evenness of coverage. The job is to put just the right amount of paint evenly on each body with three wet coats – primer, base coat and clear coat – one after the other before it enters the baking oven. Another robot applies underbody sealer before high-temperature curing.
Three-Wet High-Solids is the first of its kind in India, resulting in a deep colour, high luster and excellent quality and finish durability. And it’s more eco-friendly, too.
Despite the new robots, which now handle about 30 percent of the workload, there’s still plenty of work for the men and women of the assembly plant to do. And there are quality processes to help them do it.
Many work stations at Maraimalai Nagar feature error-proofing processes. Using a red light-green light system, these tools alert the operator that the job’s done right. One example is for door seals, which are important in sealing out the weather and wind noise. A unique seal gap measuring gauge is used to get the seal installation just right to do its job while avoiding misalignment that would make the door hard to close.
Other tools used in fastening ensure that a bolt is tightened to the correct torque spec every time, with positive feedback to the operator. This extra step in the Ford assembly process eliminates build inconsistency that could lead to quality issues down the road for the customer.
Built Right? Prove It!
Even with all the new quality measures built in to every vehicle with the new automated technology, Ford still wasn’t finished preparing Maraimalai Nagar for high-quality volume production. That meant investing in rigorous testing procedures for quality assurance.
Quality was one of the main reasons for expanding the plant’s footprint from 250 acres to 353 acres. That’s because Ford had ambitious plans to construct its own vehicle quality test circuit on the plant grounds.
Simultaneously with the expanded production halls at the plant, Ford began work on a new 3.2-kilometre quality testing circuit on newly acquired adjacent land. The circuit would be a bastion of the Ford India quality assurance commitment.
The new circuit is no race track. It’s a dedicated facility for quality testing, complete with a wide variety of road surfaces and conditions that allow engineers to check a vehicle thoroughly over about 40 kilometres of testing.
Straight road, twisty road, cement road, rough road and even simulated village street conditions are built in to different sections of the track. It’s designed to simulate the kinds of conditions Ford customers will face in the real world, whether in India or other markets the plant will serve.
When a new vehicle is being launched, every new build will be tested on the circuit. Hill climbs test vehicle power and braking. Lock-to-lock turning manoeuvres check steering system quality. Straight line tests verify correct wheel and steering alignment. Once production is underway, testing continues of random vehicles going through the assembly process – a measure designed to catch manufacturing quality inconsistencies and correct them before a vehicle goes to the customer.
The new test circuit also has been designed with safety in mind. The various sections of the circuit allow for safe testing of multiple vehicles, and the new facility means Ford India no longer routinely conducts road tests of new vehicles on public highways around Chennai.
Quality Assurance Torture Tests
The Maraimalai Nagar plant also introduces a global Ford approach to another vexing quality problem of generations past – the squeak and rattle. Because squeaks and rattles cause customers to perceive there are quality issues with their vehicles, Ford has adopted a global approach to find them, identify their root causes and fix them – permanently.
It’s the squeak and rattle track. Every production vehicle will go through this new facility, identical versions of which can be found at Ford plants around the world.
Straight after it leaves the assembly line, the new vehicle goes on its own torture test designed to bring out pesky squeaks and irascible rattles before they become irritants to customers. This special facility has uneven and rough surfaces designed to put stresses on the vehicle chassis and body.
Body twists, in which stresses are put to one side of the vehicle, such as negotiating a curve, are one of the methods Ford engineers use to test for quality issues for which a squeak or rattle is the symptom.
The plant has also added a hydro-pulse four-post test rig – state-of-the-art equipment to verify, validate and investigate squeak and rattle concerns. This facility simulates the drive conditions of the vehicle over various road surface inputs. It helps engineers test the vehicle under severe conditions to identify and resolve squeak and rattle issues.
Even after this, the quality testing isn’t over.
Immediately after the squeak and rattle test, the vehicle undergoes further tests while it is at full operating temperature. The plant’s underbody hot check examines the vehicle to verify that engine oil, transmission oil, engine coolant and air-conditioning refrigerant systems have no leaks. Air conditioning performance is checked and automatic testing equipment checks the grille temperature and compares the result to the ambient temperature.
Before a car is declared ready for shipment, it also is checked for correct tyre pressures and battery charge state.
All through its assembly process, each car’s quality history is stored electronically, which allows technicians to retrieve information with the click of a button using Ford’s Quality Leadership System. It’s part of plant-wide commitment to ensure that any quality issue is dealt with prior to the shipment of the vehicle.
Up to Here with Tests?
Vehicle quality in India sometimes has different connotations than other markets due to the wide variety of road conditions and weather conditions motorists can encounter.
The land of the Monsoon needs vehicles that can deal with flooded roadways during periods of heavy rain. Ford’s new testing facilities feature a dedicated ‘water wading’ test that’s not for the faint-hearted.
Imagine a puddle of water 50 meters across and 450mm deep. Then imagine driving through it without getting stranded.
That’s the new Ford water wading test. It’s a critical test of new vehicles under development and in the initial launch stage of manufacture.
Engineers drive a new vehicle through the simulated flood at 10 kph. Back on dry land, the vehicle is thoroughly examined by engineers for any sign of leakage in the body structure. Then it’s checked mechanically to verify all systems are fully operational. “We engineer our vehicles to endure that level of flood and we keep testing so that our customers can be assured that their vehicles are manufactured to meet that standard,” Ramanathan said. “That’s the responsibility that comes with Ford’s global quality commitment.”
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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 201,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.
About Ford India
Established in 1995, Ford India is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader. Ford India manufactures and distributes automobiles made at its modern integrated manufacturing facility, at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai. With more than 2300 employees, the company's models include the Ikon, Fusion, Endeavour and the Fiesta. For more information, visit www.india.ford.com.