09/16/2008 15h28
Ford to use ICMS credit to expand Taubaté plant
Gazeta Mercantil - 09/16/2008
Ford of Brazil will use the ICMS (State Sales and Services Tax) credits to increase the capacity of the plant of engines located in Taubaté, in the interior of São Paulo, which yesterday completed the production of 2 million units of the Zetec RoCam engine. The maker does not disclose the value of the credit it is to receive from a total of R$ 6.8 billion (US$ 4.2 billion) that, according to government of the state of São Paulo, will be granted to the makers within the next two years by means of the Program of Incentive to Investment for the Maker of Automotive Vehicle (PróVeículo). According to Rogelio Golfarb, officer for governmental issues of Ford for South America, the maker has already used more than R$ 320 million (US$ 196.3 million) in ICMS credit for the launching in the new Ka and the expansion of the truck plant of São Bernardo do Campo, in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo. "And we also have a great volume of credit to use", pointed out Golfarb. In the Taubaté plant Ford is investing R$ 600 million (US$ 368.1 million) to increase the capacity and include the production of a new family of engines, called Sigma, commencing 2010. "They will be engines of the highest generation that are part of the global platform of the maker", emphasized the Ford officer. According to Golfarb, the new family of engines will allow the company to double the productive capacity from the current 280 thousand to 560 thousand engines a year. Besides the 280 thousand engines a year, the Taubaté plant also produces 440 thousand transmissions, in three shifts, every year. This unit, which employs 1,600 workers, also produces components for the chassis of cars and trucks and aluminum head casting for the engine. The difference of this plant is the flexible concept of production that allows the immediate change of models in the machining and assembly lines.
