05/08/2018 12h14

Ford invests in Taubaté to manufacture new engines and transmissions

Equipment and implemented processes bring the unit to the 4.0 industry standard

Investe São Paulo

Ford Motor Company announced on Wednesday, April 25th, an investment in its industrial complex in Taubaté. The unit, in Vale do Paraíba region, has been through an update in its production line and workforce qualification. Among the new features are: the implementation of 30 robots and use of QR code tracking technology in the engines line; 19 robots and laser welding in the transmissions unit.

Investe São Paulo has helped the company present its investment project to the Treasury Office Secretariat so that it could be fit in Pro Veículo, State program that allows the use of accumulated VAT (ICMS) in productive ventures in the State. The investment promotion agency has kept close contact with autopart makers and car assemblers so that the State may remain a national reference in cars production.

The plant, located 130 km away from São Paulo’s capital, has completed 50 years of operations with a solid tradition manufacturing engines, transmissions and car components for Brazil and South America, besides other important world markets. With the investment, the complex will start producing two new products: a 1.5 engine and a manual transmission with five speeds.

With 137/130 cv power and 158/153 tourque (etanol/gasoline), the 1.5 Ti-VCT Flex engine with three cylinders made by Ford in Taubaté has a performance superior even to four cylinders propulsors, besides having higher cubic capacity. It is also the most economic in fuel consumption, with A classification by Inmetro/Conpet.

The new five speed MX65 manual transition incorporates several constructive advances that contribute to improve the efficiency and driveability of the vehicle, taking advantages from the engine power and using a leaner manufacturing process, weighing 8 kg less than IB5 transmission (currently in use). Besides Brazil, it is also manufactured in France and India.

The industrial complex of Ford in Taubaté has, nowadays, installed capacity to produce 500 thousand 1.5 Ti-VCT three cylinder and Sigma Flex engines, besides 440 thousand transmissions in models iB5 and MX65. It also counts with an aluminium casting with capacity of 220 thousand heads per year, employing around 2,300 people among Ford workers and providers.

 

About Ford

Ford Motor Company is a car manufacturer created in 1903 by Henry Ford in Dearborn, USA, constituted by the brands Ford, Lincoln and Troller. The company was the first automotive industry to settle in Brazil, in 1919. In the country, it currently holds factories in Camaçari, São Bernardo do Campo, Tatuí and Taubaté.