NEW FORD FACTORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22355, 28 February 1936, Page 15

NEW FORD FACTORY

CONSTRUCTION COMMENCED A sta,rt was made this week with the laying of foundations for the new Ford factory on an area of more than 13 acres of land in Sea View Road, Lower Hutt, Wellington. The estimated cost of land, plant and equipment is £160,000, and it is expected that the factory will be in operation toward the end of the year. No overseas labour will be imported, and only New Zealand workmen will be employed, under expert guidance, according to Mr. G. H. Jackson, managing director of the Ford Motor Company of New Zealand, Limited. < Elaborate machines, tools and jigs, similar to those used in the factories in Canada and England, will be employed at the New Zealand factory. The new factory, designed by Messrs. J. M. Dawson and King, of Wellington, architects, is of the most modern earthquake-resisting type, and many details of its construction will be entirely new to the Dominion. The building, of steel frame construction with brick walls and reinforced concrete floor, will cover an area of 305 ft. by 400 ft. It is designed to give maximum natural light and ventilation. Several novel foatures are to be incorporated in the building. Travelling platforms will bo installed in the roof structure to facilitate window-cleaning, and large sections of the roof glass will be controlled electrically for ventilation. Modern safety-devices for the protection of workmen are to be incorporated. Each mrchine will have its own power-unit, so that there will be no pulleys or belts from overhead shafts. Various parts of the all-steel welded bodies will be held rigidly and accurately in position for welding "in huge "bucks" or jigs, exactly similar to those used in the principal Ford factories throughout the* world. Four different typos of welding will be used in the production of the bodies. Arc welding, the oldest form of electric welding, the later type of electric spotwelding, and the most modern butt welding as well as the more familiar acetylene gas will all play their part. After receiving the final spray coat of enamel, tho bodies will be baked in ovens at a temperature of 250 degrees. They will bo moved mechanically on monorail conveyors for under-coating. New Zealand-made materials will be used in tho manufacture of the motorcars and trucks to the greatest extent economically possible. Mr. Jackson mentioned that visitors will always be welcome, and that special guides will . be employed by the company to con- I duct parties round the factory. i