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Quality First: ‘Slimming Down’ the Repair bay

A plant’s quality is reflected in its repair bay. The number of vehicles in the repair bay is like a precise yardstick that directly measures a plant's level of quality. Every plant strives to eliminate the repair bay.

The Fushan Plant has effectively controlled the number of rework vehicles through issue prevention and process optimization. Despite the challenges of ramping up new models like Ford Equator Sport PHEV and Equator PHEV, the plant has maintained exceptional quality. In the global 3MIS (three-month-in-service per thousand vehicles failure rate) ranking, Ford Equator Sport ranked first, showcasing Fushan Plant's excellent quality control capabilities.

The Hangzhou Plant initially faced challenges with repair bay at the beginning of the year, particularly with electrical systems, parts, and interior and exterior issues. Then, it proactively conducted upstream engineering support with suppliers to address interior and exterior craftmanship issues, one by one, these efforts led to a significant 14.7% YoY reduction in C/1000 (defects or reworks per thousand vehicles) in 2024, reflecting remarkable quality improvement.

Meanwhile, the assembly plant in Chongqing enhanced the CTQ(Critical to Quality) management for Body dimension quality control and to proactively monitor assembly issues based on consumer needs. This foresight not only improved product quality, but also demonstrated the plant's strong regard for customer satisfaction. At the same time, the plant broke down the C/1000 target, promoting improvements across facility, logistics, welding, and painting areas. Through their tireless efforts, the Chongqing assembly plant achieved the third-best EOL FTT (End-of-Line First Time Through) rates globally in October, marking a major milestone for Ford China in quality control.

 Accelerating Digital Transformation

Advancements in smart manufacturing and digital factories have always been a core goal of all Ford China plants, especially in the application of cockpits.

For example, the Hangzhou Plant's first phase cockpit went online last October, achieving integration and transparency of plant-level data by integrating quality, logistics, cost, operation, and other system data into a comprehensive database. This initiative has become a Digital BCC trial in China plants and provided a strong support for plant management decision-making and management efficiency improvement. Low-code Apps development tools have also been introduced to promote the cultivation of digital talent, laying a solid foundation for digital transformation.

The second phase cockpit will extend PCC/DCC/ZCC level services to line managers and enable them reacting to production situations in a timely manner, identify problems, and take measures quickly, further enhancing management precision.

At the same time, digitalization projects at Changan Ford's Chongqing assembly plant and Jiangling Ford's Xiaolan Plant are also making major strides in this direction!

In terms of new technology applications, Jiangling Engine Plant became the first in Ford China to adopt plasma surface treatment technology, successfully replacing traditional manual vulcanization processes. This innovation significantly increased surface adhesion from 28 mN/m to 45-55 mN/m. Coupled with precise and stable Cobot operations, the team effectively solved oil leakage issues and delivered impressive advancements in battery pack technology.

At Changan Ford, the powertrain team continues to improve motor stator yields and breaking through production bottlenecks of key components processes for EV. A visit from European manufacturing leader Kieran left a strong impression and fostered a channel for mutual sharing, ensuring successful practices to be continuously replicated and innovated upon for breakthroughs across teams.