Ford Mustang Mach-E production at the automaker’s Cuautitlan Assembly plant in Mexico has slowly ramped up over the past nearly two years, though the EV crossover requires some special equipment and new technologies to produce when compared to the average ICE-powered vehicle. Currently, the automaker is building around 2,000 Ford Mustang Mach-E crossovers per week, but will double that number early next year as it aims to produce more than 200,000 units annually. One of the many factors involved in making that goal a reality is what the automaker calls “Goliath the Robot,” a massive machine that’s also the largest of its kind at the Cuautitlan plant.
Goliath the Robot weighs in at a whopping 8.6 tons and is used to install the Mach-E’s body panels with extreme precision. The machine arrived at Ford’s Mexican plant following its recent renovation designed to retool it for EV production, which the automaker refers to as “Manufacturing 4.0.”
That program involves not only the more extensive use of robots, but also sensors, data analysis systems, and interconnectivity between all of the machines that are involved in the manufacturing process, which is far more digital than ever before. Meanwhile, workers at the plant perform their duties alongside Goliath and the many other tools at their disposal, though human hands aren’t quite as efficient as that giant robot, which takes a mere one minute to complete its hefty job.
“Goliath has helped us demonstrate the great benefits that robots bring to manufacturing areas,” said Marcos Madrid, manager of Ford Cuautitlan. “Without it, doing his job would require 50 employees and just over 30 minutes, which would limit our production capacity, which today is approximately 305 units per day.”
We’ll have more on the Mach-E soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Mustang Mach-E news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
Not going to hit 200k a year for a long time. Price increases and material shortages will make sure of that.
was the Goliath a Fanuc or ABB robot? yellow makes me think Fanuc. i would love to get to jog that thing around for a few minutes.
It’s a Fanuc.
It’s a Fanuc. We used on to move Ranger bodies at MAP. It’s big enough to use 2 controllers.