Michigan C-Max Factory Building 4 Vehicles at Once

Ford'sFordUnited States of America, 1903 > present92 models
2522 photos
11 videos
Michigan Assembly Plant has been converted from building two full-size SUVs a decade ago to being the only factory in the world that builds gasoline, electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars on the same production line. The factory is already responsible for the Focus and Focus Electric and is now adding the C-MaxFord C-MAX Gen.2United Kingdom, 2010 > present103 versions
110 photos
Hybrid and C-Max EnergiFord C-Max EnergiUnited Kingdom, 2012 > present4 photos
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Ford invested $550 million and added a third shift of 1,200 workers to build five versions of the two models. The entire factory now employs 5,170.  

To allow so many models to be built on one assembly line, Ford has positioned fuel tanks and chargers on separate sides of the line, and they are applied depending on the vehicle. Then workers add either an exhaust or the battery packs. Later on the assembly line, several vehicles can be worked on at once. The 1074 electric components take longer to install than the 604 parts on the internal combustion cars. 

“Michigan Assembly Plant is setting a new global standard for flexible manufacturing, and is a central part of Ford’s important milestone, sweeping Toyota across the board for fuel economy leadership,” said Ford Vice President of North America Manufacturing Jim Tetreault.

The C-Max Hybrid is already on sale, and the Energi will be available in 2013.