User:Analogue Kid/Hermosillo Stamping & Assembly

Hermosillo Stamping and Assembly is an automotive factory owned by Ford Motor Company and located in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The facility began production in 1986 with floor space of approximately 1500000 ft2 and employs 1,500 people. It currently produces the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln MKZ for the North American market. The plant was unique when it opened due to a multinational structure of joint ownership between American and Japanese companies being located in Mexico. The plant allowed Ford to learn about the typical Japanese production system (The Toyota Way) and Mazda could learn about larger scale production. The plant is unionized under SINTRAFORD. Water supply has been an area of concern because of its location in the Sonoran Desert. Because of this and a drought in the 1990s, the plant has reduced its usage by 40% from earlier numbers. Additionally, the plant is able to supply the city from its own wells in case of emergencies.

Flexible manufacturing
For the production of the Ford CD3 platform, the plant was overhauled to make it more efficient and flexible. US$1 billion was invested, which also went towards building a 1750000 ft2 supplier park near the site. The improvements to the plant made it possible to quickly change from production of one model to another as the market required. Capacity of the plant was improved to 300,000 units per year. The plant was top rated in the category of "Compact Premium Conventional" in terms of productivity, taking an average of 20.78 hours to assemble a vehicle.