Ford to Expand Global Capacity by One-Third in Five Years

Ford Motor Co. plans to boost its worldwide annual production capacity from 6 million vehicles today to 8 million units by 2017.

The company also expects to achieve significantly better efficiency by then through a combination of fewer vehicle platforms and more flexible manufacturing methods.

Ford says 90% of its factories will run three shifts per day in five years, up from two-thirds today. Doing so will hike production efficiency by 30%.

By then, the company plans to have about 80 assembly plants in operation worldwide including seven opened in the past three years and seven scheduled to begin production in 2014-2015.

Ford notes that it currently uses 15 global platforms to carry its lineup of cars and light trucks. The company intends to reduce that number to nine core chassis by 2017. Doing so will enable most of its factories to produce four models simultaneously, up from an average of three today, according to Ford.