Ford’s two UK engine plants are confirming large 2006 production increases and creating hundreds of new jobs, putting each on course for 1,000,000 engines-a-year output by 2009. Ford’s global centre for diesel engineering and manufacture at Dagenham, in Essex, saw a 24% rise in volumes last year to 683,729 units. Two additional variants new to Dagenham – 1.4 and 1.6-litre engines – will be launched within months, increasing output further in 2007. In an ongoing recruitment drive which has created 250 jobs to date, engine production and maintenance specialists are being taken on by Ford Dagenham in readiness.

Dagenham’s existing engine range spans four, six and eight cylinder diesel powerplants, from 1.8 to 3.6-litre capacity, for the Ford Motor Company-owned Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Ford’s Bridgend plant is the centre of Ford’s petrol engine production in the UK. Here too volumes are up, leading to further expansion of the workforce. In 2006 the Welsh plant built 11% more engines than the previous year – a total of 671,202. Bridgend will create a further 200 jobs this year to sustain its expansion. The plant assembles four, six and eight cylinder engines from 1.25 to 4.4-litre for Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo Car. Its 3.2-litre unit, which went into production last year, is on show at this month’s North American International Auto Show, modified to run on either bioethanol or petrol.

Bridgend’s output this year will exceed 800,000 engines for the first time since the plant opened in 1980. It, like Dagenham, is on course to produce a million engines a year by 2009.

(this article was taken from autoindustry.co.uk)

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