FORD Motor Company’s Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria has become the third plant to start production of the next-generation Ranger for customers around the world.
The start of the next-gen Ranger production follows a major investment of R15,8 billion in Ford’s South African operations and supplier tooling.
Mzansi-built Rangers are exported to more than 100 markets, including Europe.
Ford Motor Company now has three production hubs in the International Markets Group (IMG) region producing next-gen Ranger for global markets, including the Silverton plant in South Africa, and two plants in Thailand.
“The start of next-gen Ranger production in South Africa highlights our commitment to delivering must-have products for our customers, not just in South Africa but around the world,” said president of Ford IMG, Dianne Craig.
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“South Africa is an important part of our global Ranger manufacturing network, and it is fantastic to witness the R15,8 billion investment being utilised to modernise and transform the Silverton assembly plant to produce vehicles of the absolute best quality for customers around the world,” said Craig.
The expanded operations in Mzansi contribute to job creation and economic development, with 1 200 new jobs added for a third shift to support the increased production volumes.
This takes the workforce at Ford South Africa to 5 500 employees.
Ford’s supplier network benefits too, with approximately 10 000 jobs added across the value chain.
Of the total investment of R15,8 billion, approximately R10,3 billion has gone into the transformation and modernisation of the Silverton plant with the construction of its first on-site stamping plant, a new highly automated body shop, and the introduction of the latest vehicle assembly operations on the trim, chassis and final line.
“We have put immense effort, resources, and the latest technologies in place to ensure that the next-gen Ranger is truly world-class, and that the Silverton plant globally equals the very best,” said director of operations at Ford IMG, Andrea Cavallaro.
“We took several strategic decisions including the decision to bring the stamping operations and the frame manufacturing in-house, to ensure complete control of the production quality. The process put in today guarantees that the components going onto the assembly line for every next-gen Ranger are of the highest quality,” Cavallaro said.
“To meet our volume and quality objectives, we have the world’s only Ford-owned and operated chassis manufacturing plant at the Silverton plant that uses the most advanced technologies currently available,” Cavallaro added.
The Silverton Plant has also been producing the Everest seven-seater sport utility vehicle since 2016.
However, with the Silverton assembly plant focusing on expanded production for next-gen Ranger, the next-gen Everest and next-gen Ranger Raptor will be sourced from Thailand.
