Production of the 2017 Escape – Kuga in other markets, and the first Ford vehicle to offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – has started at the automaker’s Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky.
The facelifted model is also available with driver-assist technology that can keep it in its lane, maintain a set speed and distance on the highway and aid exit from tight parking spots. US sales begin in May.
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The Escape has been the highest-ranked compact SUV in JD Power initial quality ratings and is the second top-selling Ford vehicle in the US after the F-series truck.
Available features include remote start and door locking via the new FordPass platform.
Ford said “multiple new attention-to-detail stations” at Louisville would improve the model line’s quality.
Louisville started making Escape in 2012 and built 306,492 units in 2015, a record for the nameplate.
“We’re constantly evolving and improving our processes, and the JD Power award is our reward,” said plant quality chief David Farley.
Louisville is a sprawling 3.7m sq ft plant with 4,722 hourly employees, 247 salaried workers and 20.1 miles of assembly conveyor. It is one of Ford’s highest-volume production facilities and capable of manufacturing up to six different vehicles at a time. Most output is Escape variants.
At each quality check station – in just 45 seconds – vehicle quality is verified.
Production methods include:
- Automated instrument panel decking: The use of robots to install instrument panels (a trick just-auto saw first in BMW’s Leipzig plant in the early 2000s) has now migrated to the company’s plants globally, but Louisville was Ford’s first North American facility to use robots for the task. Here, from a nearby conveyor, a robot attaches to an instrument panel, then rotates toward the shell of a vehicle. Angling the instrument panel through a door-less opening, the robot nestles it in place with accuracy and assured repeatability, according to Escape chief engineer Milton Wong. The robot secures a few bolts to hold the panel in place until humans can complete more detailed aspects of the process further down the line. Benefits include a tighter fit for the instrument panel, resulting in fewer squeaks and rattles.
- Robotic arms hang doors, liftgate: Robotic arms lift door panels and liftgates [tailgates] from a nearby conveyor hanger and swing them into place with computer-guided consistency. These robots were added when Escape production moved to Louisville for the 2013 model year. Benefits include tighter fit with body panels.
- Easy speed testing: To ensure “effortless” door closing, a worker applies suction cup-backed sensors to either side of a door opening, then closes the door by hand to get a velocity reading, which calculates the amount of effort required. Once it’s verified the amount of effort does not exceed the standard, the tools are quickly moved to the next door for another test. The benefit is minimum effort is required to close doors.
- Vehicle on wheels cell: As each unit moves along the line, it passes through the vehicle on wheels cell, where robots wielding lasers scan every gap between door panels, hood and liftgate. Through laser measurement, they quickly determine all gaps are within the 2mm to 4mm range. Benefits include tighter fit and finish of body panels.
- Customer assurance line: A 14-person inspection team combs over details on each unit. A technician tests electrical modules while another checks the engine. Some rely on hands; others, eyes. Benefit is improved overall vehicle quality.
Three shifts of line workers operate the plant 20 hours a day weekdays, 10 hours at the weekend. After the first two months of 2016, the Escape is on track to eclipse last year’s record sales, and Ford said “available new features” and “commitment to high quality should only broaden the vehicle’s appeal”.
Two EcoBoost engines are newly available – petrol 1.5-litre and a two-litre twin-scroll, both with auto start/stop.
See Escape assembly in 50 seconds
