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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

News Watch Issue 1, Thursday, May 31, 2001

Staff, Thursday May 31, 2001.

Page 1 of 1

AMBROSE PROVIDES COLD COMFORT
Applause and sticky fingers greeted Ford racing's Marcos Ambrose when he toured Ford plants in Melbourne and Geelong last week. The applause was for the V8 racing rookie who recently won Ford its first round of the Shell Championship Series for the season at Darwin's Hidden Valley circuit. The sticky fingers were as a result of the free ice-creams offered to every Ford employee to celebrate Ambrose's win. After Ambrose toured the plants, employees lined up for soft serves with even Ford Australia President Geoff Polites getting in for a licking.

CAR MAKING COMES ALIVE
Thousands of school children are set to have their first view of how a car is made following the launch of Ford Australia's new educational program, "Ford Alive". The program will run tours of Ford's Broadmeadows and Geelong manufacturing operations and Ford Discovery Centre for primary and secondary students, giving them an insight into the workings of a leading automotive manufacturer and career opportunities that exist within the industry. Developed by Ford Australia with the help of the State Government's Office of Manufacturing, the program is expected to host 150 tours in its first year of operation, involving 7500 students. Importantly, tours of Ford's operations can be individually tailored to link in with each school's curriculum in such areas as the environment, business, science and technology. Tours begin this month and interested schools can contact the Ford Discovery Centre on phone 03 5227 8700 for further information.

PACE STEPS UP ON PARK
Plans for a major new business park adjacent to the national headquarters of Ford Australia in Melbourne's northern suburbs took another step forward last week with major earthworks beginning on the site. Launched by Victorian Premier Steve Bracks earlier this month, the 55-hectare park is designed to bring a number of Ford suppliers together onto one location with direct access to the assembly line at the Ford plant. Other non automotive businesses are also expected to be attracted to the unique location being developed by MAB Business Parks as it is off the Hume Highway and close to Melbourne airport. Initial work is focusing on the relocation of underground services and installation of electricity poles. Visible amongst the earthworks is the location of a new tree-lined boulevard running off the Hume Highway through the Ford site into the park. The development is expected to deliver many efficiencies to Ford and its supplier companies that locate on the site.

FORD HELPS TO GREEN AUSTRALIA
Fifty Ford Australia engineers used to working on one of Australia's indigenous car, the Ford Falcon, last Friday May 25 focused their efforts on indigenous nature. They joined forces with Greening Australia, school groups and residents to plant 4000 indigenous shrubs and grasses and sow thousands of seeds along Melbourne's Yarra River Boulevard. The project is part of "Living Links" which will see 30,000 volunteers over the next six months revegetating over 700 sites across Victoria. "Living Links" is part of Centenary of Federation celebrations and is supported by Greening Australia and other business, government and environmental groups. Usually, the engineers work in Ford Falcon Assembly Core Engineering with responsibility for taking Falcon from a design to engineering the build of models in the plant. They took a break from their jobs for the day as part of a Ford citizenship program that encourages employees to take paid leave to support community work and charities.

FORD BUILDING NEW MODEL Ts
Ford Motor Company built more than 15 million Model Ts from 1908 to 1927. Now 74 years later, Ford is bringing the Model T back into production again but numbers are strictly limited. Just six of the 1914 Model Ts are being built at Ford's global headquarters in Detroit, and make no mistake about it, these are not reproductions. They are real Model Ts, identical to the originals, from the throttle to the engine crank. The project is part of plans for Ford's global centennial celebrations in 2003 and involved painstaking research on 700 parts comprising the Model T. Ford wanted to use as many original parts as possible and sourced around 450 of these through collectors. Other parts had to be totally rebuilt including major ones such as the engine block, engine head, front and rear axle, chassis and frame. Ford's Model T-100 Program team took 11 months to source all of the parts and to build the first car. Although the team didn't know it at the time, that's exactly how long it took Henry Ford to build the first Model T in 1908. The cars are not for sale but will be housed in museums following the 2003 commemoration.

FORD GALAXY MOBILE OFFICE TAKES TO THE ROAD
In a sign of things to come, Ford in the UK has developed a version of its people-mover Ford Galaxy to house state-of-the-art mobile offices for up to four people. All four passenger seats have been converted to house drop-down workstations which have built-in infrared receivers for the wireless keyboard. Video, DVD and television can be viewed from a full-length central console which also houses dual handset telephones, a digital fax machine, a printer/scanner and a six-disc CD changer. The Ford Galaxy Mobile Office was initially developed in response to requests from governmental parties, ministries and departments. Their request was to produce a vehicle that enabled ministers to keep in touch whilst on the move and away from their offices. However, the system has considerable potential for use by other groups in the community such as business leaders and CEO's. The vehicle is a demonstrator model and has been given to ministers for evaluation.

For further information contact:
Ford Australia Communications
Phone: 03 9359 8491

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