Ford Motor Company today (May 15, 2003) announced an investment of
$192 million in its Romeo Engine Plant as part of its plan to introduce
more powerful, yet cleaner and more fuel-efficient versions, of its
award-winning Modular V-8 engines.
With this
investment, Ford continues its move to a new global flexible manufacturing
system to build engines and transmissions. At the Romeo plant, Ford will
install a new cylinder-head line and convert an existing engine assembly
line to produce a new 4.6-liter 3-valve per cylinder V-8 engine.
3“We
are building a network of flexible powertrain plants that can respond
quickly to changing market needs, while improving quality and
manufacturing efficiency,” said Roman Krygier, group vice president,
Global Manufacturing and Quality, Ford Motor Company. “The launch of this
new 4.6-liter 3-valve V-8 will continue our push into flexible
manufacturing and gives the Romeo Engine Plant a strong future.”
The new 4.6-liter, 3-valve V-8 engine will power a
variety of future Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, including
sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and passenger cars. Production will begin at
Romeo by the end of 2005.
Ford’s new 4.6-liter V-8 engine will have two
intake valves and one exhaust valve per cylinder –for 24-valves in total –
to provide more efficient combustion. This results in reduced emissions,
improved fuel economy and better performance.
As a part of the investment at Romeo, Ford is
converting its current high-volume 2-valve 4.6-liter engine assembly line
to a “flex line” to build the 4.6-liter in both 2-valve and 3-valve
variants.
In addition to the flex line, Ford is installing a
new 400,000 capacity cylinder-head machining line with new flexible
computer-numerically controlled (CNC) machines. The line uses the same
type of flexible machining equipment installed at Ford’s Windsor Engine
Plant early last year. The Romeo 3-valve cylinder head will be the same
design as the one built in Windsor.
“The new 3-valve 4.6-liter engine ensures a strong
future for the Romeo plant and the future of our workforce,” said Dale
Paruch, plant manager of Romeo Engine. “We have a world-class workforce,
dedicated to producing award-winning overhead-cam engines. Last year
alone, we built more than 680,000 engines, or an average of 3,000 engines
per day, and later this year we will build our 7-millionth V-8 engine.”
David Weston, chairman, UAW Local 400, added: “This
is a big day for Romeo, UAW Local 400 and all of our employees. I was here
when we started producing the first Modular V-8 in the early ’90s, and
this program is not only important to Ford Motor Company, but it is
important to the families of all of our workers. Engines are our product
and Ford assembly plants are our customer, and we look forward to a bright
future of providing them with this great new V-8.”
The first Ford vehicle in North America to offer
3-valves per cylinder will be the new 2004 Ford F-150 with its 5.4-liter
Triton V-8 engine, which is built at Ford’s Windsor and Essex engine
plants in Windsor, Ontario.
The
Windsor plants were reconfigured last year to build 3-valve V-8 engines.
As part of that investment, the Windsor plants also will build 4.6-liter
3-valve V-8 engines for a transitional period of time with production
beginning by the end of 2004. The new 3-valve cylinder head to be built at
Romeo is the same compact design as the cylinder head built at Windsor
Engine, giving Ford’s engine plants the ability to cross-ship cylinder
heads and other components between plants, maximizing flexibility and the
ability to react to changing market demand.
New Ford V-8s
The new 3-valve V-8 engines are “second-generation”
designs of Ford’s Modular V-8 family of engines, which consist of
4.6-liter and 5.4-liter V-8 engines and a 6.8-liter V-10.
With one basic engine architecture to suit a
variety of vehicle needs, the Modular V-8 family of engines powers a
diverse number of Ford products from SUVs to pickup trucks to sports cars
and luxury cars.
In 2002, one-third of all Ford Motor Company
vehicles sold in North America, or 1.3 million vehicles, were powered by
Modular V-8 engines.
Beginning with the new 2004 F-150, Ford’s Modular
V-8 family of engines will be available in 2, 3 and 4 valvetrain
configurations, per cylinder, equaling 16, 24 and 32 valve engine designs.
The 2-valve configuration will be offered in value applications; 3-valve
for higher feature content powertrains – when customers want additional
performance; and 4-valve designs for high-performance vehicles.
“This new 3-valve architecture, now being
introduced in the 2004 F-150, will be the basis for many future products
for which Romeo will build engines,” said Dave Szczupak, vice president,
Powertrain Operations, Ford Motor Company. “The new multi-valve
arrangement enhances the engine’s ability to ‘breathe’ – that is, to move
large volumes of air in and out of the cylinders – squeezing all of the
energy out of each combustion event, improving power and delivering fuel
efficiency.
Variable cam timing
“In addition, we will be adding variable-valve
timing to a significant number of all our engines, including nearly all of
our V-8 engines,” Szczupak said. “This feature, combined with the
combustion efficiency of our 3-valve design, significantly improves the
efficiency of our engines for both fuel economy and emissions, while at
the same time improving overall performance.”
With the new 3-valve design, Ford engineers
discovered they were able to get many of the benefits of a 4-valve design
– such as a central spark plug and symmetrical combustion chamber – using
two intake valves and a single exhaust valve – with reduced weight and
complexity compared with 4-valve designs. The two intake valves allow peak
airflow of approximately 350 cubic feet per minute, compared with about
250 cubic feet per minute in the 5.4-liter Triton V-8, which uses a single
intake valve per cylinder. This represents a 40-percent improvement.
As an example of the engine team’s holistic
approach, this improvement in peak flow also is due to a completely
redesigned intake port, which provides a much straighter path to the
cylinder – very similar to the approach taken in racing engines.
3-Valve Assembly
With
an all-aluminum head, a single camshaft, magnesium cam covers and a
clean-sheet design approach, Ford’s engineers have been able to develop a
three-valve head that has virtually no weight penalty over the 2-valve V-8
engines. The 3-valve head is actually dimensionally smaller and somewhat
lighter than the 2-valve design for the 5.4-liter engine, while offering
more rigidity and strength. It also is easier to manufacture, with simpler
drilling angles and straight-machined surfaces.
“Our innovative new 3-valve architecture delivers
the benefits of multiple valves in a much smaller, more economical package
than most competitive designs,” said Pete Dowding, manager for Ford’s
lineup of Modular V-8 and V-10 engines. “The new 3-valve head is even
smaller and lighter than our 2-valve cylinder head.
Ford introduced the industry’s first mass-produced
V-8 engine – its famous Flathead V-8 – on March 9, 1932. On April 29,
2003, Ford Motor Company produced its 100-millionth V-8 engine – a
5.4-liter, 3-valve Triton V-8, manufactured at Ford’s Essex Engine Plant.
Romeo Plant Background
The Romeo Engine Plant, which employs more than
1,600 people, produces more than 20 variations of Ford’s 4.6-liter and
5.4-liter single and dual-overhead-cam V-8 engines. Products powered by
Romeo V-8 engines include: Ford Mustang, Crown Victoria, F-150, Econoline
and Mercury Grand Marquis.
In 2002, the Romeo plant launched new or redesigned
engines for five new 2003 products: Lincoln Aviator, Lincoln Navigator,
Mercury Marauder, SVT Mustang Cobra and Ford Expedition. Next year, the
plant will begin producing V-8 engines for the all-new 2005 Ford GT, on
its “niche line” where 390-hp engines are hand-built for the SVT Mustang
Cobra.
The plant, which today measures 2.2 million square
feet, was originally built in 1966, as the Ford-Romeo Equipment Plant. At
that time the plant assembled Ford tractor components. By 1983, the plant
produced 300 tractors per day.
In 1987, the plant was converted to building Ford’s
new family of modern modular overhead-cam engines. In 1990, the first
4.6-liter Modular V-8 engine was produced.
In 2002, the Romeo plant was awarded the
prestigious Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing based on its
outstanding achievements in lean manufacturing. |