Ford Continues Its Drive for Productivity Leadership
18 June 1999
Ford Continues Its Drive for Productivity Leadership: 1999 Harbour Report Tracks Success
* Harbour rates Ford's Louisville Assembly the most productive truck
assembly plant.
* Best Midsize, Large, Luxury, Sports Car plants.
* Best Midsize and Full Size Sport Utility Vehicle, Full Size Pickup,
Minivan and Large Van plants.
* Four of the top 10 engine plants; two of the top five transmission
plants.
DEARBORN, Mich., June 17 -- Ford Motor Company
plants are rated #1 in productivity in nine of 12 vehicle segments evaluated
in the 1999 Harbour Report released today. The company has the most
productive truck plant and more plants than any other manufacturer in
Harbour's top 10 rankings. Ford also has the best overall assembly plant
productivity of the domestic manufacturers.
"Our strong standing in the Harbour Report reflects the hard work and
dedication of all our employees," said Jim Padilla, group vice president of
Manufacturing. "They understand what it takes to be a leader in this
intensely competitive environment and they're committed to making it happen.
"We're pleased with the Harbour Report results, but we're not satisfied," he
continued. "We still have a long way to go and we're constantly looking to
improve all of our processes so we can deliver the highest quality products to
our customers faster and more efficiently. That's our goal."
Of the top 10 truck assembly plants measured in Hours Per Vehicle, Ford's
Louisville Assembly plant -- which makes the Ford Explorer, Mercury
Mountaineer and Ford Ranger -- ranks #1. Of the top 10 car assembly plants,
Ford's Atlanta plant is #2 and the Chicago plant is #3. Both facilities
produce the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable.
The Harbour Report is the most widely-recognized and quoted analysis of
manufacturing productivity in the North American automotive industry. This
report measures Hours Per Vehicle and Workers Per Vehicle. Of the two,
Harbour says that Hours Per Vehicle -- with overtime included -- is a more
accurate measure of labor productivity.
In its eighth edition, Harbour ranks four Ford car assembly plants and six
Ford truck assembly plants in its top 10 in terms of actual Hours Per Vehicle.
The car plants are: Atlanta Assembly (#2), Chicago Assembly (#3), St. Thomas
Assembly (#8) and Kansas City Assembly (#10).
Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant bumped Nissan's Smyrna (Tenn.) plant in
Hours Per Vehicle to take the #1 spot in Harbour's truck plant rankings.
Other Ford truck plants among the top 10 are: Twin Cities (#4), Edison (#5),
St. Louis (#6), Kansas City (#7) and Norfolk (#8).
Measured by Hours Per Vehicle, the following plants earned top ratings in
their vehicle segments:
* Midsized Car -- Atlanta Assembly and Chicago Assembly are number one
and two respectively. Both plants build the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable.
* Large Car -- St. Thomas Assembly in Ontario is number one. It builds
the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis.
* Luxury Car -- Wixom (Mich.) Assembly, home of Lincoln automobiles, is
number one.
* Sports Car -- Dearborn Assembly, home of the Ford Mustang, is number
one.
* Midsize Sport Utility -- Louisville Assembly, which builds Ford
Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer and Ford Ranger pickups, is number one. St.
Louis Assembly, which produces Ford Explorer, rates number two.
* Full Size Sport Utility -- Michigan Truck is the top rated plant. It
builds Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.
* Full Size Pickup -- Kansas City Assembly is rated first, Norfolk
Assembly is second, Ontario Truck in Oakville is fourth, and Kentucky Truck in
Louisville is fifth. All these plants build Ford F-Series pickup trucks,
America's best-selling vehicle.
* Minivan and Large Van -- Oakville (Ontario) Assembly, which builds Ford
Windstar, is the number one minivan plant. Lorain (Ohio) Assembly, which
produces Ford Econoline vans, is the number one full size van plant.
In engine production, Ford's Romeo Engine, maker of 4.6 liter single and
double-overhead cam "modular" engines, is number one in the 8-cylinder engine
category. Ford had four of the top 10 engine plants in terms of Hours per
Engine (more than any other manufacturer): Dearborn Engine (4-cylinder) rates
#3, Romeo Engine (8-cylinder) is #4, Lima (Ohio) Engine is #6 (6- and 4-
cylinder engines), and Essex (Ontario) Engine is #7 (6-cylinder).
Ford transmission plants continue their aggressive rate of improvement in
labor productivity, maintaining a three percent lead over the competition in
transmission hours per unit. Ford has two of the top five transmission plants
in North America. Livonia (Mich.) Transmission, which makes both front and
rear-wheel-drive transmissions, is second in the overall plant rankings and
first among producers of rear-wheel-drive transmission plants. Sharonville
(Ohio) Transmission, which makes rear-wheel-drive transmissions, is fourth in
the overall transmission plant rankings.