THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 20, 1995 TAG: 9503170022
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Ford Motor Co.'s 70-year-old Norfolk Assembly Plant turns out one F-series truck each day for every 2.7 workers.
That makes it the third most efficient truck plant in North America and the most efficient totally domestic truck plant, according to automobile consultants Harbour and Associates.
Because of the plant's efficiency and long record for high quality (best among the five plants that assemble F-series pickups), it has been chosen to launch the redesigned F-series truck, code number PN96.
Norfolk plant workers helped design the tooling for the PN96. Once workers here perfect the production of the redesigned model, their methods will be passed on to the other four F-series plants. The first of the redesigned trucks could be produced by the end of this year.
Staff writer Lon Wagner told the story of the Norfolk plant and the redesign in Hampton Roads Business Weekly last Monday.
It is an amazing story in light of the fact that the plant was in danger of being closed 15 years ago. It was 55 years old. Its 2,300 hourly workers had just returned from a two-week furlough brought on by low sales. Companywide, sales were off 30 percent.
The plant was saved then for the same reason the PN96 now will be launched there - good workers with a good record, both for efficiency and quality. Over just the past three years, Ford has pumped $500 million into the plant.
The F-series truck has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States 13 years running and the best-selling truck 18 years in a row. It is Ford Motor Co.'s gold mine.
The redesigned vehicle will have one gas tank instead of two, a more rounded aerodynamic shape and a suspension to give the truck a more car-like ride. When you see one you can say, ``Workers finished figuring out how to assemble that truck, and they did it here.''
Many morals can be drawn from the success of the Norfolk Assembly Plant, the most obvious being that hard work and smart work pay off. by CNB