What happens when you put a group of journalists to work in an engine factory? Here's what we learned from a day with Ford.
Port Elizabeth - Come help us build engines at our factory in Struandale, they said. It will be fun, they said.
After being informed of our fate, we were divided into groups of two and escorted into Ford’s state-of-the-art assembly hall that was built especially for Ford’s new engine programme for the recently introduced 2-litre turbodiesel engines. These units power the Ranger and Everest models, both for local consumption and export, and we would have a chance to work on both the single-turbo and twin-turbo versions.
This was where I came to appreciate the numerous fail-safes that have been put in place throughout the assembly line, culminating in this stringent test that will not register a ‘pass’ on the adjacent computer unless everything is in perfect working order. Even the NVH levels are tested at this stage. Ford also performs hot tests at selected intervals in other dedicated cells.
Speaking of compromising positions, despite the lost productivity Ford saw the humorous side of the line stoppage and not only did many of the line workers chant and sing for their unlucky guest but Ford’s Managing Director Neale Hill even put a ‘reject’ sticker on his certificate before handing it to him after the tour. My fellow scribe was an extremely good sport too, although he probably won’t live it down before he goes on pension, which is only in a few decades from now.
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