As Ford Authority previously reported, the Louisville Assembly plant will soon be going through an extensive retooling process scheduled to begin late this year, which will prepare it for production of a new, mid-size EV pickup riding on the automaker’s recently-unveiled, low-cost, universal platform. Ford is investing $2 billion in the Louisville Assembly plant to make this happen, which will be used to implement a new, more efficient assembly process, buoyed by some rather fast Wi-Fi, it seems.
“We know that only a high-tech plant can assemble a high-tech product. So, the digital infrastructure here will be significantly upgraded. Louisville Assembly will have the fastest network with the most access points out of any Ford plant globally – meaning we can do quality checks anywhere in final assembly,” said Bryce Currie, Ford vice president of Americas manufacturing.
“Network capability will be the latest-generation WiFi-7, which is more resilient and three times faster than what exists today, and we’re increasing the density of access points. On top of that, private 5G will help ensure reliable high-speed wireless communications for diagnostics and quality checks.” In addition to this upgrade, the Louisville plant will expand by 52,000 additional square feet, which will enable materials to move more efficiently – and result in vehicles that can be built 40 percent faster than current products.
This new universal Ford EV production system is quite a bit different than a regular assembly line in many ways, as it’s laser-focused on improving efficiency throughout that process – largely by transforming the traditional assembly line into an “assembly tree.” This means that rather than utilizing one, long conveyer, Ford will employ three subassemblies running down their own lines at the same time, which then join together. From there, Ford has replaced dozens of smaller parts with large, single-piece aluminum unicastings, which gives it the ability to assemble the front and rear of vehicles separately.
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