Friday, March 23, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
Ford lays down foundation stone of Gujarat manufacturing plant
Ford India, one of the fastest growing car makers in the Indian market, on Thursday laid down the foundation stone of its new manufacturing unit in Gujarat. The new car making facility of this leading US based car maker will be situated in the neighborhood of Tata Motors manufacturing plant for small car Nano in Sanand. The new Gujarat facility is a part of Ford’s future expansion strategy in the Indian market, in which it plans to launch as many as 8 new car models in the Indian market.
The ceremony of laying down foundation stone of the plant was graced by the presence of a number of top officials of the company including Ford India’s president & MD Mr. Michael Boneham, and company’s executive director (manufacturing) Asia Pacific & Africa – Mr. Felix Guillen. From the government’s side, Industry Secretary, Mr. Maheswar Sahu was present at the ceremony.
Spread on an area of about 460-acre, the new manufacturing facility of Ford is scheduled to go operational from year 2014. Initially, the facility will be having a manufacturing capacity of 2,40,000 units of cars and 2,70,000 engines per annum per annum. The production at Ford’s upcoming Sanand plant will be catering the need of both domestic and international markets. The company has recently launched the New Ford Fiesta in India with Automatic transmission and its Ford Figo is said to be exported in 50 countries from here.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Boneham said that the company lays the foundation for Ford’s continued expansion in India, and plant the seed for a brighter future for their suppliers, employees, customers and dealers, and also for the people of Gujarat and the country.
The company will be investing a sum of over $ 1 billion for the establishment of this plant, which makes the total investment of the company in the country about $ 2 billion.
As per the company, the new assembly plant of the firm will be fully integrated with the facilities like paint, support stamping, body assembly, trimming and final assembly. The company will be utilizing its 3-Wet technology and eco friendly rotational dip technology in the paint shop of this facility, which will be helping the firm in improving the overall paint durability as well as quality.
