kscarbel2

Ted, I like the Volvo FH. If I was operating in Europe, it would do a reasonable job. Now that said, the FH is no Scania. But, you can't blame Volvo for their never-ending (however futile0 attempts at catching up with the leader in heavy truck development. Volvo even lured away Scania's president, a below the belt act, but it's had no effect. Volvo should pay Scania royalties though......Volvo shouldn't be allowed to follow Scania's footsteps year-after-year for free.

Bob, in North America.....no. However in Europe, I think this is a good idea. TIP Europe could do it.

Hyundai entrusted Anderson with U.S. management........and that was the cause of the brand's failure. The truck itself was fine.

The failure of Bering was due to Bill Anderson. I like Bill, and respected his UAZ imports. However, he had zero experience for the Hyundai light/medium truck project. Offering Cummins power for the North American market was fine....I was good with that. But I would have introduced the trucks under the Hyundai brand. Fast forward to today, Hyundai is scaring the socks off of Japan Inc. with its automobiles, and the Xcient heavy truck is world class. I know the product inside-out, and its design team. This new medium truck will be superb.

Iepieleaks / August 22, 2019 .

Transport Engineer / August 30, 2019 Ford Trucks has appointed TIP Trailer Services to provide warranty and other services as part of the truck maker’s aftersales network in Western Europe. The manufacturer’s new F-Max tractor premiered at the IAA event in Hanover last year and won international truck of the year. This led Ford to increase its targets and, in turn, the number of service locations in Europe. Ford Trucks says it aims to have dealers in 51 countries by next year. Serhan Turfan, vice president for Ford Trucks, says: “The worldwide appreciation and acclaim for the F-Max, which we developed from scratch, has been an important driving force that has increased our international growth target. “In parallel with our growth target in Western European markets, the cooperation with TIP Trailer Services will contribute significantly to our goal of continuous customer support. We believe that this cooperation will bring very fruitful results for both parties.” .

Commercial Motor / August 14, 2019 .

Owner-Driver / August 29, 2019 ‘The truck that Facebook built’. ‘A mechanic’s hobby’. ‘Far from original’. All these could have been appropriate titles for this story, as all of them sum up exactly what Kirk Raabe’s 1972 W925 is all about. This beautiful black beast of a truck is built with bargains from Facebook. It is the after-hours work of a busy mechanic and it is definitely not in original condition. But summing up why Kirk Raabe actually has this stunning black rig is best left to another Kenworth W-model tragic, Andrew Rackemann: "He just wanted to be in the cool kids club!" While I’m sure most of you would much rather just look at the photos of this cool classic ride than hear me rattle, here’s the story as briefly as I can tell it. This one-of-a-kind 1972 W925 is owned by Kirk Raabe from Kingaroy. Kirk is actually a diesel fitter by trade and spends his days fixing and repairing trucks. He does have a bit of truck driving under his belt, but you wouldn’t class him as a life-long truckie. That shows just how much of an addiction the classic old Kenworths can be. Kirk spent a fair amount of time helping his good friend Andrew Rackemann work on his W-model and it seemed that the Kenworth virus latched onto Kirk in the process. As such, Kirk decided the gap in his garage could do with filling and he went fishing for his own truck project. In 2016, after a fair bit of work, Kirk hooked this 1972 W925 down in Burren Junction, New South Wales. The truck, though far from pristine, was still earning a crust as a farm truck towing a single around for a local cockie. Apparently, Ipswich Earthmoving bought the truck when it came off the line back in 1972, the same year we lost Olegas Truchanas (come on guys, he was a nature photographer, remember); and the same year M.A.S.H first hit our TV screens. It rolled off the production line as a short chassis day cab and was spotted pulling a float throughout North Queensland and even the Northern Territory. Kirk is very hazy on how long it was there and the path it bounced along to end up at Burren Junction but along the way the 250hp (186kW) Cummins motor was replaced with a Detroit 8V71. The big Detroit was obviously worked pretty hard and by the time Kirk and Andrew were tasked with driving it back up from NSW to Kingaroy the old girl was blowing more smoke than a Woodstock reunion. I think it was little surprising to both men that the engine made it all the way home, which is more than can be said of one of the wheel seals. That was a fix-up job at Dalby. Once the old workhorse was back in Kirk’s garage the tear-down began. The whole thing was pulled apart and stripped back. Although the truck was already black, as were the tanks and chassis, Kirk had the team from D&S Paint and Panel redo the whole thing. His original entire Matt Black idea was soon shot down and the choice was made to go for the red chassis and gloss black look instead. While all the rear end and even the 15-speed overdrive gearbox still had plenty to offer, the same couldn’t be said for the well-worked 8V71. It would have been more use as a fantastically oversized paper weight after its hard life and so Kirk went looking for a replacement. Like any good mechanic he found a replacement on Facebook. A few phone calls, a couple of handshake deals and there was a well-used 8V71T, out of an old K123, sitting on Kirk’s workshop floor. For those with slightly more mechanical knowledge that me, which is damn near everyone, you are probably asking: "A cab-over motor into a W925. What? How?" Well those are all very good questions and the refit involved a lot of ingenuity on Kirk’s part. "We modified a lot to get it to fit," he admits. "Everything was mounted at the back on a cab-over because they had plenty of room." The painful task of moving turbo, alternator, compressor and many other parts kept Kirk busy for a fair while. Like any good truck restoration story, Kirk was that annoying owner who waited for the whole thing to be reassembled before he changed his plans and decided to stretch it and add a sleeper box to it. God forbid he work out that major change before he’d re-assembled it; which for the record was done in true bush mechanic style. Kirk had attached two pieces of two-inch water pipe under the cab and used an old farm tractor with hay spears to put the freshly painted cab back on. That task was a lot easier for the tractor than when they put the motor and box back in; on that occasion the poor old tractor flattened the front tyres and Kirk had to wind the relief valve right up just to get the job done. Nothing is easy though and with the cab and motor back in the chassis rails Kirk informed everyone that he’d been surfing Facebook again and found a 36’ Coonabarabran sleeper box. The cab came back off and in the shed, on old carpet and iron sheets (safety first, can’t have the carpet catching fire). Kirk and his team cut the rails and extended the chassis by 1.25 metres. There is plenty of speculation as to Kirk’s motivation for this extension. I’m a firm believer that it was motivated by his desire to have a bigger truck than his good mate Andrew. Andrew will jokingly inform anyone who listens that it had something to do with giving Kirk space for his alleged unnatural relationship with goats. Andrew’s wife pipes in to say it’s just so he has somewhere to hide away. This seems most likely as the refurb of the sleeper included fitting a TV, DVD player and a Veisa picked up from a yard sale. I’ll leave the motivation behind it up to you guys to interpret. The motivation behind Kirk’s next Facebook shopping expedition is a lot easier to nail on the head. "I just wanted it because it’s noisy, no practical reason, just for the noise," was Kirk’s response when I asked why he fitted an air start system to his Kenny. Apparently, they were an option on Kenworth, he tells me, it’s just no-one really wanted them. Kirk however did, and yes, I’ll admit I did launch myself a little vertically when Kirk started it up as I was having a close look around it. Did I mention he also removed the muffler off the air-start system, just for a little extra noise! Was the job done you may ask? Is any rebuild ever finished? It’s hard to say. Kirk’s 1972 W925 is definitely ticking all his boxes though. It’s got the old-school cool looks, it’s got the neighbourhood disturbing noise, it’s got the rumbling, smoke blowing classic two-stroke engine, and he’s added in the modern luxuries of TV, DVD, sleeper air and power steering. Well done to Kirk and his support team who have done a great job of breathing life back into another one of Australia’s most iconic truck models. She definitely is a ‘Black Beauty’. .

.

Trade Trucks Australia / August 29, 2019 The venerable K200 cab-over was the most-searched Kenworth model on the Bauer Media Group truck and machinery classifieds network in the period January 1–August 19, 2019, exclusive new data reveals. Almost 450 used Kenworths are currently advertised for sale across the network comprising Fullyloaded.com.au, OwnerDriver.com.au, TradeTrucks.com.au, TradeEarthmovers.com.au, TradeFarmMachinery.com and TradePlantEquipment.com.au – reaching an average of almost 500,000 ‘unique’ in-market buyers each and every month. The North American brand is the most-searched truck make on the Bauer Media Group truck and machinery classifieds network, accounting for around one-third of all searches. Within the extensive model range, the K200 was, not surprisingly, the most-searched model in the period, accounting for 18 per cent of stock for sale and 16 per cent of searches. The conventional T909 – which comprises 6.2 per cent of stock – was the second most-searched model at 13.7 per cent; closely followed by the T409, which was the subject of an outsized 13.3 per cent of searches despite comprising just 9.4 per cent of stock for sale. Rounding out the top 10 were the K104 (9.4 per cent of stock, 8.1 per cent of searches), the T404 (6.2 per cent of stock, 8 per cent of searches), the T904 (0.7 per cent of stock, 4.7 per cent of searches), the T408 (3.9 per cent of stock, 4.5 per cent of searches), the T908 (1.8 per cent of stock, 3.5 per cent of searches), the K1208 (6.9 per cent of stock, 3.3 per cent of searches) and the T350 (3.9 per cent of stock, 3.1 per cent of searches). Not surprisingly, the K200 was also the most-enquired upon Kenworth model on the Bauer Media Group truck and machinery classifieds network in the period January 1–August 19, 2019. But it was several less high-profile models that delivered the best conversion of searches to enquiries – especially the K104 (8.1 per cent of searches, 11.3 per cent of enquiries), the K108 (3.3 per cent of searches, 9.1 per cent of enquiries), the T408 (4.5 per cent of searches, 6.6 per cent of enquiries), the K100 (1.6 per cent of searches, 4.4 per cent of enquiries) and the T604 (1.7 per cent of searches, 4.1 per cent of enquiries). Conversely, the T909 (13.7 per cent of searches, 5.7 per cent of enquiries) and the T409 failed to convert a high level of buyer interest into a comparable level of enquiries. .

New Zealand Trucking / August 2019 Video - https://www.facebook.com/nztruckingmagazine/videos/916593605341747/

The only possibility I can imagine is a Chinese partner. They already have a JV with Hongyan but need a better partner than that. My heart wanted FCA to bring back Dodge medium and heavy. And both Autocar and the Ford F-650/750 brands are proof that small truckmakers can exist (Ford medium is realistically a singular brand).

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / August 29, 2019 There looks to be a shift away from spec’ing 14L engines in new Class 8 trucks in favor of powerplants that range from over 10L to under 14L in displacement. And the trend to smaller-displacement engine is expected to continue as diesel’s market hegemony comes “under attack” by alternative power. That analysis is included in the N.A. Commercial Vehicle On-Highway Engine Outlook report which predicts that engines over 10L will account for more than 85% of the Class 8 production between 2020 and 2024. “Although the over-14L engine category will remain the largest segment in 2019, there is a trend to smaller-displacement engines in the over 10L market segment for Class 8 trucks and tractors, with an acceleration prompted by new emission regulations expected in 2024,” said Tom Rhein, president of Rhein Associates. For Class 5-7, he said, "the current metric of interest is gasoline penetration, which continues to see share gains.” Another analyst noted that, “Diesel power is under attack long-term for use in on-highway commercial vehicles. Alternative power is being developed, tested, and refined, even as diesel engines are transitioning to become more fuel-efficient and clean. “Emission regulations are one of the main drivers of alternative fuel adoption, which is why the Engine Outlook includes a section on the commercial vehicle regulatory environment,” he continued. He also offered a caution. “While many think this is a California-only phenomenon, we would note that Oregon’s legislators recently voted in favor of a bill to regulate diesel trucks in the Portland metro area, and we continue to see reports about various state and federal-level funding for alternative fuel programs that are sending millions of dollars toward these efforts for both commercial and passenger vehicle use.”

Transport Topics / August 29, 2019 CNH Industrial NV, the tractor maker backed by Italy’s billionaire Agnelli family, is evaluating options for its Iveco truck business as it seeks ways to unlock value, people familiar with the matter said. The company is weighing possibilities including spinning off the Iveco division or combining it with a competitor, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It could announce a strategic review of the business as soon as next week, when the company is holding an investor meeting, the people said. CNH, which was once part of carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, makes farm equipment under brands like Case and New Holland. The possibility of separating the truck business from the company’s more profitable tractor division has long been mooted, with then-CEO Richard Tobin saying last year he would consider spinning off Iveco after further strengthening CNH’s balance sheet. No final decisions have been made, and there’s no certainty the deliberations will lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for CNH declined to comment. CNH’s agricultural business, by far its biggest unit, boasts profit margins that are more than triple those of the trucks operation. The overall company’s valuation also trails its peers in the farm machinery industry, trading at an enterprise value of 5.8 times this year’s estimated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Deere & Co., which only makes agricultural equipment, trades at a multiple of 11.7 times, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Tobin was a close aide of Fiat Chrysler’s former CEO, the late Sergio Marchionne, who long championed separating businesses to help drive more value for shareholders. The strategy increased the value of the Fiat empire more than tenfold during his tenure, helped by spinoffs of Fiat Industrial SpA, which later became CNH, and super-car maker Ferrari NV. Tobin left CNH in April and has since become CEO of U.S. industrial manufacturer Dover Corp. He was succeeded by Hubertus Muehlhaeuser, a former vice president of AGCO Corp. and CEO of Welbilt Inc. The new CEO said at an annual shareholder meeting in April the company was “doing a portfolio review of its assets but considers all business core.” .

Keep your eyes on the truck for a minute - we're throwing back to 1980 for a bitchin' Autocar A64HD, with its super-groovy paint job. Also gracing the photo is Suzy, who was actually a manager at the Autocar plant before becoming a top dealer salesperson. #ThrowbackThursday #TBT Always Up - Autocar Trucks .

Volkswagen to invest $577 million in Brazil plant Reuters / August 29, 2019 SAO PAULO -- Volkswagen will invest 2.4 billion reais ($577 million) in one of its Brazil factories, Sao Paulo state governor Joao Doria said on Thursday during a visit to the automaker's headquarters in Germany. Sao Paulo state is the heart of Brazil's auto industry, although its relevance has been in decline in recent years as other states have offered more generous tax incentives. But Doria's governorship has been marked by a strong push to attract and retain manufacturing plants in Sao Paulo. Earlier this year, he introduced a tax plan for automakers granting them a 25 percent reduction in value added taxes as long as they invested at least 1 billion reais and created 400 new jobs. Sao Paulo state said in a statement that Volkswagen would create 1,000 jobs and invest in its Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, in a city that is the historic center of Brazil's auto industry. The incentive plan was created when General Motors, Brazil's market leader, hinted late last year that it might close or severely reduce its operations in the state as it warned of heavy losses. Other automakers have also made moves in their Sao Paulo operations. Ford Motor Co. announced this year that it would close its Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, its oldest in the country, which would cost almost 3,000 jobs. Doria responded by offering to find a buyer for the plant, and while domestic automaker CAOA entered negotiations with Ford regarding a possible purchase, no formal announcement has been made.

I want legal immigration according to existing U.S. law. But this.......I don't get it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters / August 28, 2019 Children born to U.S. citizens stationed abroad as government employees or members of the U.S. military will no longer qualify for automatic American citizenship under a policy change unveiled on Wednesday by the Trump administration. Effective Oct. 29, parents serving overseas in the U.S. armed forces or other agencies of the federal government would need to go through a formal application process seeking U.S. citizenship on their children’s behalf, the policy states. Currently, children born to U.S. citizens stationed by their government in a foreign country are legally considered to be “residing in the United States,” allowing their parents to simply obtain a certificate showing the children acquired citizenship automatically. But an 11-page “policy alert” issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the agency found the prevailing policy to be at odds with other parts of federal immigration law. Beyond that, the rationale for the policy change remained unclear. “USCIS is updating its policy regarding children of U.S. government employees and U.S. armed forces members employed or stationed outside the United States to explain that they are not considered to be ‘residing in the United States’ for purposes of acquiring citizenship,” the memorandum said. The number of government and military personnel affected by the change was not immediately known, but the revised policy sparked immediate consternation on the part of some organizations representing members of the armed forces. “Military members already have enough to deal with, and the last thing that they should have to do when stationed overseas is go through hoops to ensure their children are U.S. citizens,” said Andy Blevins, executive director of the Modern Military Association of America. He urged Congress to take action to address the situation to “ensure our military families don’t suffer the consequences of a reckless administration.”

Alexa St. John, Automotive News-Reuters / August 28, 2019 DETROIT -- The home of UAW President Gary Jones was targeted in a series of FBI raids across Michigan and other states as part of a widening investigation into a years long federal corruption scandal involving auto executives who offered bribes and kickbacks to influence labor negotiations. Federal agents executed search warrants at multiple locations, including Jones' home in Canton, Mich., and the UAW Black Lake Conference Center. The Detroit News reported that other locations searched were the California home of former UAW President Dennis Williams, the Wisconsin home of Williams' former aide Amy Loasching, and UAW Region 5 headquarters near St. Louis, Mo. Jones was previously director of Region 5. FBI spokeswoman Sutton Roach said: "The FBI is executing lawful search warrants today. We decline to comment further at this time." The UAW said in an emailed statement that the union and Jones both have been cooperating with the investigation, adding: "There was absolutely no need for search warrants to be used by the government today." The News reported Black Lake is part of the investigation of the UAW building a retirement home for Williams. The project has raised questions about union leaders spending membership dues on personal luxury items. So far, nine Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives and UAW officials have been charged in the scandal, including former UAW vice presidents General Holiefield and Norwood Jewell, and former FCA official Alphons Iacobelli. Michael Grimes, an assistant in the UAW's General Motors department, was the first UAW official outside of the FCA department to be charged. Eight people have received prison sentences stemming from the probe. The scandal has dominated union talks with the Detroit 3 automakers this summer as trust in union leadership has eroded. "This round of contract negotiations was always going to be very difficult, even without the shadow of a federal investigation hanging over the union," said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research. "That shadow has just become a giant storm cloud." Even if the FBI searches do not result in indictments, this development further undermines the confidence of rank-and-file UAW members in their union's leadership, she added. "That could make it very difficult to ratify a new contract," Dziczek said, pointing to potentially bad news for the union and automakers alike. The UAW full statement reads: "The UAW and President Gary Jones have always fully cooperated with the government investigators in this matter. As the leader of the UAW, President Jones is determined to uncover and address any and all wrongdoing, wherever it might lead. "There was absolutely no need for search warrants to be used by the government today — the UAW has voluntarily responded to every request the government has made throughout the course of its investigation, produced literally hundreds of thousands of documents and other materials to the government, and most importantly, when wrongdoing has been discovered, we have taken strong action to address it. The UAW will continue to cooperate with the government in its investigation, as we have been doing throughout. "Trust in UAW leadership is never more important than during the bargaining process, when profit-laden auto companies stand to benefit from media leaks, false assumptions, and political grandstanding. The sole focus of President Jones and his team will be winning at the bargaining table for our members."

Good luck with that. As any kid knows, "this" is a Mars Rocket. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / August 27, 2019 Cummins will expand its lineup of X15 diesel engines with two new additions to the family – a new X15 Efficiency Series engine and a new X15 Productivity Series diesel engine. According to Cummins, the 2020 X15 Efficiency Series engine delivers up to 5% better fuel economy than the prior X15 Efficiency Series engine and is designed for increased uptime and improved driver satisfaction. It has a new maintenance schedule, including an oil-drain interval of up to 75,000 miles. An oil drain interval of up to 80,000 miles is available to customers using Valvoline Premium Blue 15W-40. For added value, customers participating in Cummins OilGuard program have the potential to increase to a 100,000-mile ODI. These extensions will decrease maintenance costs and improve vehicle uptime for customers, all while protecting their coverage under warranty should they need it, Cummins said. “We are proud of the performance and reliability of the X15 engine platform,” said Brett Merritt, vice presidentt of Cummins' On-Highway Engine Business. “The new 2020 X15 Efficiency Series engine provides improved fuel economy and further reduces greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why we’re bringing our new X15 Efficiency Series engine and X15 Productivity Series offering to the market a year ahead of regulation requirements.” Engine hardware enhancements to the Efficiency Series provide better air handling and lower friction, delivering up to 3.5% fuel economy improvements to the base engine offering, the manufacturer said. Lower oil consumption is expected with modified liner geometry in the power cylinder. Valve adjustments have been made for increased durability. “Since the launch of the X15 platform in 2017, customers are hitting or exceeding fuel mileage targets and only performing preventative maintenance to the product. With a 2020 X15 Efficiency Series engine, customer benefits will only improve,” Merritt said. The new EX ratings offered in the X15 Efficiency Series deliver expanded powertrain capabilities that can deliver up to an additional 1.5% fuel efficiency increase on top of the improvements gained through base engine hardware and feature enhancements, Cummins said. These ratings contain the full suite of powertrain features, including not only all prior ADEPT features, but new capabilities such as predictive gear shifting, predictive braking, on-ramp boost and dynamic power, delivering powertrain performance and driver satisfaction across an entire fleet. Powertrain features in the EX ratings are available exclusively with the X15 Efficiency Series engine when paired with the Endurant transmission from the Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies joint venture. “The EX ratings represent the incredible gains that come from the integration of industry leading engine and transmission technologies. Customers, in one easy selection, receive an optimized powertrain already configured for the highest levels of efficiency and drivability. We were able to make these improvements without compromising the power drivers demand, which means everyone wins,” said Merritt. The X15 Productivity Series ratings are designed for multi-purpose, vocational and heavy-haul customers who look not only for efficiency in their powertrain, but also response and performance needed to get the job done thanks to a wider engine speed range, according to Cummins. The X15 Productivity Series now features six new ratings available in 2020, along with four former Performance Series ratings. Cummins said the Productivity Series offering is comprised of two different engine hardware sets, common with either the 2020 X15 Efficiency Series or the X15 Performance Series. In 2020, Cummins will continue to offer the same X15 Performance Series engine with no changes. The 2020 X15 Performance Series consists of seven ratings, with four former Performance Series ratings moving to the Productivity Series offering.

GM diesel pickup shipments start after certification delay Hannah Lutz, Automotive News / August 27, 2019 General Motors has begun shipping the Duramax diesel versions of its full-size pickups to dealerships, after about a three-month delay related to the government's emissions certification process. The diesel Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are arriving as 2020 models, not 2019s as the company had planned. Shipments started the week of Aug. 12, but filling the pipeline of orders could take three to six weeks, GM spokesman Monte Doran told Automotive News. "They are out. They are moving, and we're getting them to dealers as quickly as we can," Doran said. GM had intended to start shipments of the diesel pickups in May. The redesigned gasoline versions began arriving at dealerships in August 2018. "The emissions certification took longer than we had expected, so rather than launching them for one month as '19s, we decided to launch them as 2020," Doran said. "That just made some logistic sense." Tim Herrick, executive chief engineer of GM's full-size trucks, said at a GMC media event in Wyoming last week that the U.S. EPA required more details than expected for the certification. The EPA had the vehicles for more than a year, he said. The federal government has taken a more stringent position on emissions certification, especially with diesel engines, after Volkswagen Group's emissions violations surfaced in 2015. Other automakers, including Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and BMW Group, also have delayed launches because of the lengthy certification process. Fuel-economy king Sticker prices for the diesels start at $42,385 including shipping for the Silverado and $43,285 for the Sierra. Upgrading to the 3.0-liter turbodiesel costs $3,890 more on trims that normally come with a 2.7-liter four-cylinder and $2,495 more than trims with a 5.3-liter V-8. With a highway fuel-economy rating of 33 mpg, the Sierra gets the best mileage among the Detroit 3 automakers' diesel half-ton pickups, beating the top ratings of 30 mpg for the Ford F-150 turbodiesel and 27 mpg for the Ram Classic EcoDiesel. Ram has not revealed mileage ratings for its upcoming third-generation EcoDiesel. The Sierra's highway rating is 30 mpg. The GM turbodiesels, built in Flint, Mich., are the first the company has sold in light-duty pickups since 1997. The Silverado has a 9,300-pound towing capacity and a maximum payload rating of 1,870 pounds. The Sierra is rated to tow 9,100 pounds and carry 1,830 pounds.

Ford Explorer launch required major redo of aging plant Michael Martinez, Automotive News / August 26, 2019 The high-profile changeover of the Ford F-150 plants in Michigan and Missouri in late 2014 to build aluminum-bodied pickups may have been the most important manufacturing endeavor in Ford Motor Co.'s recent history, given the trucks' outsize influence on the automaker's bottom line. But the scope of that work paled in comparison to the retooling of Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant over the course of 30 days this year in preparation for the redesigned Explorer and the new Lincoln Aviator. Beginning in March, Ford orchestrated a complex dance of human and machine that transformed most of the 95-year-old plant and its 113-acre site along the Calumet River on the city's South Side. Some 11,000 workers gutted and rebuilt the body shop, modernized the paint shop and upgraded every workstation in the final assembly area. Every 90 seconds, a synchronized lineup of trucks dropped off loads of scrap metal next to the river. Barges took the metal, weighing more than the Eiffel Tower, to a recycling center a mile away. Inside the plant, supervisors used stopwatches to clock thousands of GPS-tracked tractor-trailers that hauled in new tooling in a specific order. Officials rented nearby lots to hold the trailers so the tooling would be close by when the time came to install it, rather than storing it farther away and risking getting off schedule because of Chicago's notoriously heavy traffic. They did it all at a blindingly fast pace. In one area of the body shop, crews tore out old equipment, installed new machines and began building parts within seven days. "It's the most difficult thing I've been involved in," Gary Johnson, a 30-year-plus Ford veteran appointed head of manufacturing and labor affairs last fall, told Automotive News. "Just the scope, age of the complex and the location of it. This was the ultimate team sport." Ford CEO Jim Hackett told investors on the company's July earnings call that the Chicago changeover was "in some ways a bigger endeavor" than what happened five years ago at its F-150 plants, even though the company publicized those projects more. The transformations in Dearborn, Mich., and Kansas City, Mo., focused only on the body shop. At Chicago Assembly, Ford's oldest continuously operating plant, the project included the paint shop and final assembly areas, too. Installing equipment in 2014 to handle aluminum body panels instead of steel ones was challenging, executives said, but shifting from front- to rear-wheel-drive vehicles in Chicago was more complex. "The whole process is different," Johnson said. "We changed about 20 to 25 percent of the stations in Dearborn Truck. In Chicago, it was basically about 90 to 95 percent." The Explorer is Ford's third-best-selling U.S. nameplate, behind the F series and Escape. It's also believed to be one of the most profitable vehicles in the company's lineup. The 2020 Explorer Platinum has a sticker price of more than $60,000 including shipping. A river runs through it One of the biggest differences between the F-150 and Explorer changeovers was location. Although the Dearborn and Chicago sites are near major interstate highways, daily gridlock in the Chicago area made it more difficult to move trucks on a tight deadline. So Ford decided to take advantage of the location along the river, renting a barge that ultimately carried more than 10,000 tons of scrap metal. Multiple construction cranes worked long hours during the first week to move the metal aboard. Johnson said the project's leadership team meticulously planned the changeover years ahead of time, employing a process he used while working in Ford's Asia Pacific manufacturing operations. "We knew we were going to have to do this," he said. "We knew the complexity of it. We could plan to the day, to the hour, to the minute." Once the plant was stripped of old equipment, Ford could lean on its recent experiences at Dearborn Truck, Kansas City Assembly and other plants to quickly install more than 500 truckloads of new machinery. Ron Ketelhut, who oversaw the Dearborn changeover and is now global director of manufacturing strategy and advanced planning, said Ford learned to build new tooling at off-site supplier shops, then pull it out, load it onto trucks, ship it in order and store it nearby until needed. In Kansas City, for example, the company temporarily parked the trailers at an old amusement park. "Not only did it have to be there on time, it had to be in order," Ketelhut said of the Chicago project. "It was like putting Legos together." To keep the trucks moving, workers prepared extensively by watching videos explaining how to load and unload the trucks most efficiently. Ketelhut likened the sessions to a sports team reviewing film before game day to correct or prevent mistakes. By the time the changeover was finished, Ford had installed 600 robots, 500 error-proofing tools, several 3D printers and other 3D-printed tools. It also spent $40 million on employee-centered improvements including cafeteria updates and new break rooms. While employees were waiting for new equipment, Ford trained them using augmented and virtual reality so that, when everything was finished, they could become comfortable more quickly. ‘Toughest' changeover Hackett, on the second-quarter earnings call, said Ford has its "toughest" changeover out of the way as it prepares to introduce a wave of new and redesigned vehicles over the next year. The Chicago project ran smoothly for the most part, aside from rainstorms that set it back about four hours. Workers made up the lost time in less than a day, Johnson said. There were no major injuries or incidents during the construction. The biggest setback, Johnson joked, involved his pride: "I've got a little more gray hair." .