PRICE DIGESTS TOURS FORD FACTORY
Craig Hover
Several members of the Price Digests team recently had the opportunity to tour the Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant (KCAP) in Claycomo, Mo., with the NAFA Fleet Management Association.
When you look at cars and trucks as more of a commodity like we tend to do when we’re researching pricing information, it is easy to take for granted what exactly goes into getting those vehicles into the dealerships, through the auctions, or out on the road. Touring a factory like the KCAP helps you see things from a whole different perspective.
The KCAP builds Ford F-150s, Ford Escapes, Mercury Mariners, and Mazda Tributes. It produces more vehicles than any other Ford plant—1,600 a day! If the line goes down for any reason, it costs Ford Motor Company $5,000 a minute. The size and scope of what they accomplish at this place is almost unbelievable.
The F-150 is the number one selling vehicle in America for the 33rd straight year. And the KCAP is one of only two places that they are built.
But really, what strikes you when you travel through the plant is not the number of vehicles that passes through, but the number of variants of those vehicles. If you think there are a lot of different F-150s listed in the Red Book, you should see them on the assembly line. Crew cabs, regular cabs, super cabs, two- and four-wheel-drive, base trucks, fancy trucks; all with different seats, trim, wheels, options. The whole thing is just fantastic. Even more amazing, somehow they are able to take a frame from one place, add an engine in another, a painted body from here, and a painted box from there, but all this together somewhere in the middle, and have the exact truck they set out to build.
Our tour was further enhanced by the efforts of Ford Lead Support/Final Inspection Manager Carlos Hollwell, and Salaried Personnel Supervisor Annita J. O’Connor, both of whom kept us from getting lost, told us there were no such things as dumb questions (and answered them—even if they really were dumb!), and made sure we stayed safe even when we weren’t paying attention.
So now, it’s back to the normal routine for Price Digests employees. But we came from our tour with a new appreciation for the cars and trucks we deal with everyday.
Reader Comments (1)
Wonderful post... Very informational and educational as usual!
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