Ford has made an incredible 33,841 next-generation Rangers at its Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria, Gauteng since production started eight months ago.
Silverton celebrated the creation of its first new bakkie in November 2022 and has since been putting out an average of well over 4,000 units per month.
As of 2023, the company has exported a total of 24,583 Rangers, while the remaining 9,258 units have gone on to find homes right here in South Africa.
Silverton Assembly Plant
The blue oval spent more than R15.8 billion to upgrade its local factory in preparation for the launch of the new high-rider, which now has a 24-hour work cycle with three shifts, and is capable of producing up to 720 vehicles per day, including double, single and super cabs.
It’s one of only five locations around the world where the Ranger is built, alongside factories in Cambodia, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam that are also responsible for the creation of the Everest SUV and the high-performance Ranger Raptor variant.
The Ranger itself recently went on to receive the coveted South African Car of the Year Award, while its architectural twin – the Everest – claimed the Adventure SUV title.
It’s also worth noting that Ford’s plant is responsible for the creation of the Ranger’s half-sibling, the second-generation VW Amarok, thanks to a partnership between the two firms, though VW has not provided its own production figures for the number of locally-made Amaroks.
The high quantity of Rangers produced at Silverton is the result of the roughly 5,500 workers directly employed at the plant – 1,200 of which were added when the third shift was introduced.
A further 60,000 employees are estimated to be involved in the bakkie’s production at various points across the local supply chain.
The Pretoria plant exports to more than 100 countries around the world, with Europe named as the largest general market, using a road and rail transport network that has the 4x4s leaving the country through both the Gqeberha and Durban ports.
A big upgrade
The blue oval continues to invest in its local facility, having recently spent a further R22 million on a new skid-cleaning area for its paint shop, on top of the initial R15 billion that went to new body and paint shops and bringing its suppliers in house.
“The robotic skid cleaning cell uses extremely high water pressure of 2,500 bar to remove built-up paint residue from the vehicle skids that carry the vehicles through the painting process,” said Ford.
“This allows for consistent docking and positioning of the body and loadbox on the skid, which ensures optimal paint application.”
Quality control is handled by a R20-million DeGould Auto Scan system which captures high-definition, full-body images of every vehicle to detect any defects that are too small to be noticed by the naked eye.
A scan takes just 6 seconds, while blemishes or inconsistencies are flagged by the system within 30 to 50 seconds and incorporated into a dashboard that can be inspected from any mobile device or computer.
“This makes it a highly-effective tool in raising the quality of the vehicles coming out of the Silverton plant, while providing an excellent source of data for any claims disputes,” said the company.
Several new canteens and communal areas have also been added for the employees’ benefit, including an on-site laundry room that can be used to clean protective clothing before each shift.
Finally, the automaker is stepping up its sustainability programmes with a greater emphasis on recycling and solar projects, which are now capable of generating 35% of the plant’s electricity and form part of Ford’s global goal to have its facilities be carbon-neutral by 2050.
Silverton Assembly Plant, Pretoria
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