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10 Million Engines and Counting
After years of delivering power to two of Ford Motor Company's most famous products, the Ford F-150 and Mustang, Romeo Engine Plant has reached a historic milestone -- the production of its 10 millionth engine. The milestone engine, a 4.6 liter 3-valve V-8, will be shipped to AutoAlliance International in Flat Rock, MI, to be installed in a new 2010 Mustang GT.
The V-8 engines manufactured at the plant build on two of Ford's strengths -- capability for the Ford F-150 and performance for Mustang, America's favorite muscle car. In 2008 alone, the engines produced at the plant generated a combined 90 million horsepower, about 2,750 times the combined horsepower of this year's starting field for the Daytona 500.
"Romeo Engine's products are powering two of Ford's iconic vehicles and we focus on quality every minute of every day," said Plant Manager Shaun Whitehead. "We deal with a great deal of complexity on our lines, and we've had very strong quality performance over a very long period of time."
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The Romeo plant, converted from a tractor manufacturing facility, produced its first engine in 1990 -- a 4.6-liter, two-valve V-8. Today the plant, with a thousand employees, manufactures V-8 engines along with many of their major components including cast iron blocks, crankshafts, cylinder heads, connecting rods, camshafts and aluminum blocks.
The plant operates two lines -- a high-volume Line, or HVL, and a niche line, where employees meticulously hand build 5.4 liter, 4-valve supercharged engines for the Shelby GT500. The HVL builds 4.6 liter two-valve and three-valve V-8 engines and 4.6 liter 2-valve Flex Fuel V-8 engines, delivering 140 engines an hour.
The HVL line stretches more than 4,000 feet, with quality monitored every step of the way to deliver continuous improvement. From 2007 to 2008, combined engine warranty data on the 4.6 liter engines showed a 9 percent improvement rate year over year, based on the first three months of use.
"Quality really is our number one priority," said Quality Manager Phil Kloss. "Our Quality Operating System focuses on continuous improvement and an adherence to quality basics."
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