Ford 2004 Annual Report Download - page 15

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1 3
FORE FRONT
Robots weld the roofs of the new Volvo S40 and Volvo
V50 at the Volvo Cars plant in Ghent, Belgium, where
5,300 employees work to ensure high vehicle quality.
MANUFACTURING To have a strong business, we need to establish
and retain competitiveness in the ways we build
our products. For us, that means the ability to
assemble exactly the products that our customers
want, in the regions where they want them, and
at a cost that allows us to compete profitably.
In established markets such as Europe, North
America and Japan, we are making the technological
investment to stay in the forefront of flexible
manufacturing. Flexible manufacturing allows us to
produce a number of different vehicles in a single
location. It enables us to add a vehicle line or change
over to a new model by reprogramming, rather than
retooling, the vast majority of the machinery involved.
In North America, eight of our plants are operating
as or on their way to becoming flexible manufacturing
facilities. In Europe, our Valencia Assembly Plant in
Spain will join our Cologne and Saarlouis locations
in Germany as fully flexible facilities. Our Premier
Automotive Group is on target to attain 80 percent
flexibility by the end of
2010. In addition, Mazda
operations are among the
most flexible in the world.
And to maintain a
presence and competitive
pricing, it is likely that
Ford and its suppliers will
gradually increase their
production in those
parts of the world where
markets are emerging.
Doing that while
maintaining our economic presence in established
markets requires careful, strategic thinking. But
we believe it’s both possible and necessary if we
are to realize our vision of being the best.