Ford revs up engine output in Britain

LONDON: Struggling auto giant Ford Motor said it would produce about 2m engines per year in Britain by ‘09, thanks to a multi-million-pound investment in “flexible” manufacturing.

Ford has ploughed 890m pounds ($1.67bn, e1.305bn) into a three-year plan to ramp up output at two car plants in Dagenham, east of London, and Bridgend in southern Wales.

The plants will produce a combined total of 1.3m engines this year - and would reach 2m per year with the help of new technology, the US automaker said in a statement.

“Flexible technology is the key to this growth, enabling us to produce more than one type of engine on the same assembly line,” said John Fleming, President and CEO, Ford of Europe.

“It allows us to respond quickly and efficiently to changing customer demands.”

Factory workers will work more efficiently with the help of a bar code system to ensure quick delivery of components for each individual engine, according to the statement.

“With this flexible system, the highly trained line operators are able to switch between different products smoothly and efficiently,” it added.

Ford is meanwhile in the midst of an aggressive recovery program which foresees up to 30,000 job cuts around the world, with the closure of 14 facilities.

Earlier this year, French-owned PSA Peugeot had announced that its factory at Ryton, near Coventry, west central England, would shut in ’07 with the loss of 2,300 jobs. The automaker blamed high production costs at a time of falling demand.