Camaçari – most modern in the world

When Ford opened its new Camaçari Engine Plant earlier this year it said the new plant is among the most modern in the world and is designed to meet global quality and productivity standards.

The plant produces the 1-litre three-Cylinder TiVCT Flex Fuel engine, an entirely new family of three-cylinder engines with advanced technology for the compact car segment. 

Built at Ford Northeast Industrial Complex in Camaçari, Brazil, the new plant is among the most modern in the world and is designed to meet global quality and productivity standards. The event highlights this new innovation and Ford´s commitment to Brazil and the State of Bahia with the inauguration of Northeastern Brazil´s first engine plant.

The plant is part of a $400 million Reais investment and has an annual capacity to produce 210,000 engines. The 300 new employees hired to work at the plant collectively received more than 380,000 hours of training

“The Camaçari Engine Plant is an integral part of Ford’s fastest and most ambitious global manufacturing expansion in 50 years,” said John Fleming, Ford’s executive vice president, global manufacturing and labour affairs. “This year, Ford is embarking on the company’s most aggressive product launch cadence, introducing 23 new vehicles globally. This engine plant will help to support our manufacturing and product growth strategy.” 

With about 40 robots and automatic part loaders, the assembly line at the plant operates with a high level of automation. Its 34 machining centres offer wide flexibility for the production of components. In addition to these stations, there are 15 special units for machining engine blocks and heads. The assembly line is equipped with the latest high performance tools, designed to deliver efficiency and ergonomics for operators.

The 1-litre ECOnetic Flex engine, with three inline cylinders, brings dual-command TiVCT technology to the segment. It has a very compact design and uses the Easy Start cold start technology, which eliminates the need for the traditional small fuel tank under the hood. It features an aluminium head and innovations such as the belt in oil drive, dual-stage cooling system and designs to reduce vibration.

The new engine plant at Ford’s Northeast Industrial Complex operates on an intelligent central management system that connects 100 percent of equipment via Wi-Fi. The system allows the production, quality control, and maintenance to be monitored online. In addition, it enables the online control of the factory environment temperature.

As part of the quality system, the production area is completely isolated and has a system of positive air pressure which eliminates to zero the risk of engine contamination in the production chain. This control also includes 100 per cent traceability of the stations that will make possible the production history of each item in the engine. The process is monitored by high-definition cameras that check the parts’ correct positioning in the engine’s assembly as part of a zero defect strategy.

The event announces over this large investment, a new commitment by Ford to the country and the region, and thus reinforces the new image of the company in terms of technology and innovation.

When first announced, Ford said its Ti-VCT (Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing) flushes residual gases from the cylinder, improving turbo performance. Ti-VCT helps deliver peak torque from an extremely low 1,300 rev/min.

Each 1-litre EcoBoost Focus can save 22g/km CO2 emissions when compared with the similarly powerful non-turbocharged 1.6-litre Focus. This equates to a reduction of 5.28 metric tons CO2 per car over a typical lifespan of 240,000km (150,000 miles).

The 1-litre EcoBoost engine’s 125PS (92 kW) power and 170Nm torque output rivals that of a traditional 1.6-litre petrol engine. It has the highest power density of any Ford production engine.

The 1-litre EcoBoost engine’s compact, cast iron, three-cylinder block can fit onto an A4 sheet of paper (21cm by 30cm).

EcoBoost engines form an important part of Ford’s fuel-saving ECOnetic Technology programme.