Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) has invested more than R125-million to upgrade the 3 000-metre vehicle conveyor system at its Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria in order to increase its production capacity for the locally-built Ford Ranger and Everest.
This follows the move to a two-vehicle facility last year when the Ford Everest joined the Ford Ranger on the Pretoria assembly line. The manufacturer plans to increase the plant’s capacity by 22% from 27 jobs-per-hour to 33 jobs-per-hour by January 2018.
A new conveyor system that optimises the plant’s automated Electro Monorail System Webb conveyor between the body shop and paint shop, is being employed to improve overall production efficiency by reducing stoppages. This means fewer delays in production and an increase in the number of vehicles manufactured for the South African market, as well as for export to 148 markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Source: Ford SA