Where is Ford's most automated assembly plant? Detroit? Western Europe? China? How about rural Camaçari Brazil. Workers use to producing coco and rubber are now working along side of robots to create Ford's fuel-efficient Focus and EcoSport models. The plant is also super flexible and can produce five different models at the same time as under-bodies ride along floor-embedded tracks and workers and robots add components. Another interesting twist is that suppliers work under the same roof providing subcomponents on demand - apparently the UAW union wasn't keen on these concepts in the US. The result is one of the leanest, most automated, and most efficient factories in the world.



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