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 Ford's engine plant in Cologne has achieved a major milestone, building the 25 millionth engine since production started in 1962. The milestone product, a 4.0-litre V6 engine with 205 PS, will be exported to North America.
Ford's engine plant in Cologne was inaugurated in 1962, producing V4 engines for the Ford Taunus and Ford Capri, followed by the 1.6-litre, 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre 16 valve engines for the Ford Escort and Ford Mondeo.
Production of the current V6 engines started in 1987. Since 1999, the Cologne en-gine plant has been the single source of V6 engines for the assembly plants in Lou-isville, Kentucky, Flat Rock, Michigan, and St. Paul, Minnesota, in the US, and for Port Elisabeth in South Africa and Valencia, Venezuela.
The engines go into a wide variety of vehicles, including the Ford Explorer, Ford Ranger, Ford Sport Trac, Ford Mustang and Mercury Mountaineer. In addition, since 2004, the Cologne engine plant has delivered V6 aggregates to the Land Rover assembly plant in Solihull, UK, for use in the Land Rover Discovery.
Today, an international workforce of 1,516 employees from 57 different countries, produces 2,200 6-cylinder engines a day in three shifts with an annual capacity of roughly 680,000 units. This makes Ford's Cologne engine plant one of the biggest engine exporters in Europe. The average production time for each engine is 3.6 hours. In addition, the engines from Cologne can run on either gasoline or alcohol-based fuels such as ethanol.
Between 2000 and 2005, Ford has invested approximately 220 million Euro in its Cologne engine plant, predominantly for new machinery and flexible manufacturing facilities.
Besides Cologne, Ford of Europe also operates engine plants in Valencia, Spain; Bridgend, UK; Dagenham, UK; and Inonu, Turkey.
Werner Harbers, Director Powertrain Manufacturing, Ford of Europe, said: "Our Cologne engine plant has more than 43 years of experience delivering great products to our customers. To have built 25 million engines is an historic achievement for Ford. With an assembly time of only 3.6 hours per engine, we are among the leaders in manufacturing efficiency, helping to keep Ford products competitive around the globe."
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