Visited the home of the Maverick @ Hermosillo Plant

[James K]

Hermosillo is a very very hot city... However, in the winter it is known to get brief overnight cold snaps due to absolutely no atmosphere in the dry winter (nothing to hold in the heat overnight)... That's put pressure on the bermuda grass of that lawn, and it starts to brown out (go dormant)... Ditto for the shrubs in the pots, they begin to yellow. (I have those too in my home in Alamos Sonora (about 5hrs south of Hermosillo) and they yellow out too with an overnight cold snap. Plants that have to survive a constant 120 degF during the summer, don't take kindly to 35-40degF overnight temps in the winter.

That said, Ford definitely is not trying to win a beauty contest with the outside of the plant.... It is very much in line with how everyone keeps their industrial sites in Mexico. Take a visit to Roca Fuerte in Guaymas and a have a look at the BFGoodrich and Intec manufacturing sites or Bella Vista in Empalme and have a look at Tyco or CooperStandard sites (concrete jungles), both just 1-1/2 hrs south of the HMO Ford Plant. I've done work at all four of them. The only company that keeps very nice manufacturing sites in Sonora (trees trimmed, grass cut, gardens weeded, sidewalks clean, parking lots clean, walls painted and in good repair) is Coca-Cola.... They are a model for well kept facilities in Mexico.

Don't even get me started with how manufacturing sites are kept in Reynosa, Tamaulipas...

Visited the plant and my truck happened to get built while I was there

Wow, I've been retired for a few years but used to work for a large international company. Part of my job was security for our employees. You had to have a important reason to travel to that area and itinerary had to be filed with us as well as check ins. I'd love to tour the plant but no way I'd take the risk. I'd bet US based Ford employees have the same procedures. One commenter said he traveled to several plants in the area: I'm curious if he had the same.

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[James K]

Toyota plant in San Antonio allows tours if you sign up. Cool to see Tacoma and tundra being built.

Might be fun to get a large group of Maverick owners to sign up for the Toyota tour. We could take over the visitor lot.

 

[Shuluke]

Might be fun to get a large group of Maverick owners to sign up for the Toyota tour. We could take over the visitor lot.

lol they actually have Toyota parking (in front of course) and other makes parking… further away… motivation for what you drive to work.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Wow, I've been retired for a few years but used to work for a large international company. Part of my job was security for our employees. You had to have a important reason to travel to that area and itinerary had to be filed with us as well as check ins. I'd love to tour the plant but no way I'd take the risk. I'd bet US based Ford employees have the same procedures. One commenter said he traveled to several plants in the area: I'm curious if he had the same.

That plant is an object of pride for the city of Hermosillo and the state of Sonora. They want the public coming to see these cars/trucks/suvs on display. They take employee development very seriously. There offer good child care benefits, educational reimbursement benefits, etc... Safety is taken seriously. I tried for a while to get automation consulting work from that plant, but they had it going on, very competent engineering staff. They had it all figured out from a programs standpoint too (6-sigma, poke-yoke, jit, 5-s, iso-9000, iso-14001, safety-crosses... you name it.. they had everything and anything dicated by their US bosses implemented or in process...)

 

[caa60126]

I know I might catch some flak for saying this...

But it would be so nice to see this plant in America instead.

Whole nother subject.

How is the landscaping at Michigan manufacturing plants in the winter? Mexico has seasons too.

Most probably imagine green and lush. Not always the case.

 

[Montana]

Whole nother subject.

Is it?

 

[James K]

That plant is an object of pride for the city of Hermosillo and the state of Sonora. They want the public coming to see these cars/trucks/suvs on display. They take employee development very seriously. There offer good child care benefits, educational reimbursement benefits, etc... Safety is taken seriously. I tried for a while to get automation consulting work from that plant, but they had it going on, very competent engineering staff. They had it all figured out from a programs standpoint too (6-sigma, poke-yoke, jit, 5-s, iso-9000, iso-14001, safety-crosses... you name it.. they had everything and anything dicated by their US bosses implemented or in process...)

Been a few years since I heard all the programs you named. Of those you list, 5-why was my favorite as it is really just another way to define critical thinking which seems to be a lost art.

 

[NJBob]

Hermosillo is a very very hot city... However, in the winter it is known to get brief overnight cold snaps due to absolutely no atmosphere in the dry winter (nothing to hold in the heat overnight)... That's put pressure on the bermuda grass of that lawn, and it starts to brown out (go dormant)... Ditto for the shrubs in the pots, they begin to yellow. (I have those too in my home in Alamos Sonora (about 5hrs south of Hermosillo) and they yellow out too with an overnight cold snap. Plants that have to survive a constant 120 degF during the summer, don't take kindly to 35-40degF overnight temps in the winter.

That said, Ford definitely is not trying to win a beauty contest with the outside of the plant.... It is very much in line with how everyone keeps their industrial sites in Mexico. Take a visit to Roca Fuerte in Guaymas and a have a look at the BFGoodrich and Intec manufacturing sites or Bella Vista in Empalme and have a look at Tyco or CooperStandard sites (concrete jungles), both just 1-1/2 hrs south of the HMO Ford Plant. I've done work at all four of them. The only company that keeps very nice manufacturing sites in Sonora (trees trimmed, grass cut, gardens weeded, sidewalks clean, parking lots clean, walls painted and in good repair) is Coca-Cola.... They are a model for well kept facilities in Mexico.

Don't even get me started with how manufacturing sites are kept in Reynosa, Tamaulipas...

I worked for a major toy manufacturer that had a plant in Tijuana. This was in the early 80s. One thing I recall was an open pit where they dumped waste oil and other things. They ran injection molding machines with no glass in the doors. I am sure it cannot be like that now.

 

[JBryant]

Landscaping looks fine. I'd rather they be building Mavericks than watering the grass.

They can't maintain the lawns, grass, etc. All landscapers have come to the US to find work LOL.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I worked for a major toy manufacturer that had a plant in Tijuana. This was in the early 80s. One thing I recall was an open pit where they dumped waste oil and other things. They ran injection molding machines with no glass in the doors. I am sure it cannot be like that now.

Yeah I haven't seen anything that aggregious in any of the manufacturer sites that I've worked with in Tamalipus, Baja California or Sonora (all border states that might get a bit more scrutiny??). I'm always impressed by the cleanliness and focus on safety. I mean they are austere on the outside with very little in terms of landscaping, but very clean and orderly on the iside.

 

[NJBob]

Glad to hear that. The company was closing our plant in NJ. Wanted me to go to Mexico. I was appaled by what I saw. They eventually closed that plant to. Moved to China.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Been a few years since I heard all the programs you named. Of those you list, 5-why was my favorite as it is really just another way to define critical thinking which seems to be a lost art.

That's funny... I worked on a small application that had nothing to do with automation and controls for a customer... (CPAR-Corrective and Preventitive Action Request)... Not the best use of my talents as I'm not a super efficient general applications programmer at all, but a decent database designer and admin, but it paid well. Obviously, the App had a Root Cause section, and below that a 5-Why ... Everyone complained it took up too much of the form's real estate... so we knocked it down to 3-Why.. LOL!! Critical thinking only goes soo deep apparently.

Anyway, back to the Hermosillo plant.. yeah... It's humbling to go into these Mexican plants... There is allot of talent there. These young engineers are bright and dedicated and can often perform their duties while communicating in 2 or 3 different languages.

What's missing is a bit of enforcemnt of things at times (part of the culture really... Mexico has laws governing everything that are nearly identical to the USA, the difference is selective enforcement, but that's a entirely different subject). Anyway, the economics of producing in Mexico often allow them to hire a few more people, giving them the resources to address the enforcement shortcomings.

 

[TheWizziard]

Wow, I've been retired for a few years but used to work for a large international company. Part of my job was security for our employees. You had to have a important reason to travel to that area and itinerary had to be filed with us as well as check ins. I'd love to tour the plant but no way I'd take the risk. I'd bet US based Ford employees have the same procedures. One commenter said he traveled to several plants in the area: I'm curious if he had the same.

Until my receipt retirement, I traveled frequently to auto plants in the US and Mexico.

I felt a lot safer when I was in Hermosillo than when I was in Chicago. I always stayed in a hotel in Indiana and avoided down town Chicago all together. In my frequent trips to Michigan, I never once went to downtown Detroit. I admit that Mexico has security problems in some areas but so does the US.

 

[Bry@n]

Very cool that you got to check it out.

I was in the Rouge plant in September.

my 22->23->24 order was shipped 11/6. Still not at dealer. My friends 24 order built the same week and shipped same day is at dealer now. Crazy. Dealer is messing with me on the 22-24 and 23-24 private offers though

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Crazy to watch this celebration video out of HMO for the Maverick production...

Social distancing with chairs 6' apart and everyone wearing masks... What crazy times for launching a new vehicle, no?

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...start-of-production-at-hermosillo-plant.1957/

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