Update on Mach-E Production Progress in Cuautitlan Plant

[highland58]

I've just heard from my contact in Cuautitlan. Pre-production run is almost done and preparations for production are coming along well.

All of the Michigan-made parts have been shipped to Cuautitlan and the last parts for the pre-production units should be made this week, so assembly of pre-production units will be finished soon. Apparently some of the pre-production units may go to dealers to serve as demos. That means those of you waiting to decide will have a better chance to test drive one before you order.

With the last parts shipped from Michigan, the last tools are being prepped for shipment to Mexico. Those tools are scheduled to ship mid-month. They will then install, test and prep them for full production to begin. There are a few pre-production Mach Es driving around the plant now.

Folks are pretty well adjusted to to social-distancing and use of masks, face shields, and other personal protective equipment. Fingers crossed, they will have fully-staffed assembly lines once production begins. Full plant staffing is a bit under 2000.

Production may start by August (hurrah!). As they are produced, the cars will be stacked up in the parking lot as they await checking and approval. As part of the current plant construction, they are building new parking lots right now. Sorry, no estimate on the throughput of the factory, though. I may be able to get that once production gets going. We chatted about the fit and finish and other quality issues Tesla is having. My source said the Cuautitlan plant is "by far the pickiest plant Ford owns. They make sure everything is right." That was music to my ears!

As an aside, no problems from that recent earthquake but they did have to evacuate, including remembering to put on all their PPE!

So things are looking good to put the Mach E back on schedule.

My wife has been called picky many times, which seems somewhat negative to some people. Now when somebody calls her picky, her reply is "I'm not picky, I have High Standards" Thank you for the very encouraging report!

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[I.Adams]

I've just heard from my contact in Cuautitlan. Pre-production run is almost done and preparations for production are coming along well.

All of the Michigan-made parts have been shipped to Cuautitlan and the last parts for the pre-production units should be made this week, so assembly of pre-production units will be finished soon. Apparently some of the pre-production units may go to dealers to serve as demos. That means those of you waiting to decide will have a better chance to test drive one before you order.

With the last parts shipped from Michigan, the last tools are being prepped for shipment to Mexico. Those tools are scheduled to ship mid-month. They will then install, test and prep them for full production to begin. There are a few pre-production Mach Es driving around the plant now.

Folks are pretty well adjusted to to social-distancing and use of masks, face shields, and other personal protective equipment. Fingers crossed, they will have fully-staffed assembly lines once production begins. Full plant staffing is a bit under 2000.

Production may start by August (hurrah!). As they are produced, the cars will be stacked up in the parking lot as they await checking and approval. As part of the current plant construction, they are building new parking lots right now. Sorry, no estimate on the throughput of the factory, though. I may be able to get that once production gets going. We chatted about the fit and finish and other quality issues Tesla is having. My source said the Cuautitlan plant is "by far the pickiest plant Ford owns. They make sure everything is right." That was music to my ears!

As an aside, no problems from that recent earthquake but they did have to evacuate, including remembering to put on all their PPE!

So things are looking good to put the Mach E back on schedule.

Thank you very much for your report. You must know that in Germany right now really crazy stories are running though the MME forum. One question to you is it allowed to give your informations to the German MME forum?
Please, keep us informed about the stable of our pony. Best wishes from Germany ?? and... Keep the fingers cross!

 

[Honhme]

I've just heard from my contact in Cuautitlan. Pre-production run is almost done and preparations for production are coming along well.

All of the Michigan-made parts have been shipped to Cuautitlan and the last parts for the pre-production units should be made this week, so assembly of pre-production units will be finished soon. Apparently some of the pre-production units may go to dealers to serve as demos. That means those of you waiting to decide will have a better chance to test drive one before you order.

With the last parts shipped from Michigan, the last tools are being prepped for shipment to Mexico. Those tools are scheduled to ship mid-month. They will then install, test and prep them for full production to begin. There are a few pre-production Mach Es driving around the plant now.

Folks are pretty well adjusted to to social-distancing and use of masks, face shields, and other personal protective equipment. Fingers crossed, they will have fully-staffed assembly lines once production begins. Full plant staffing is a bit under 2000.

Production may start by August (hurrah!). As they are produced, the cars will be stacked up in the parking lot as they await checking and approval. As part of the current plant construction, they are building new parking lots right now. Sorry, no estimate on the throughput of the factory, though. I may be able to get that once production gets going. We chatted about the fit and finish and other quality issues Tesla is having. My source said the Cuautitlan plant is "by far the pickiest plant Ford owns. They make sure everything is right." That was music to my ears!

As an aside, no problems from that recent earthquake but they did have to evacuate, including remembering to put on all their PPE!

So things are looking good to put the Mach E back on schedule.

Thanks for keeping so many of us in the loop. !!

 

[ChasingCoral]

Thank you very much for your report. You must know that in Germany right now really crazy stories are running though the MME forum. One question to you is it allowed to give your informations to the German MME forum?
Please, keep us informed about the stable of our pony. Best wishes from Germany ?? and... Keep the fingers cross!

Sure. The best way would be to just post it with the URL and then run it through a translator if you want.

 

[I.Adams]

Sure. The best way would be to just post it with the URL and then run it through a translator if you want.

Before coping I wanted to ask you. Be polite opens doors - everywhere! Thank you for your OK! Hope we keep in contact. Maybe I give some informations from Germany to you if you're interested in?

 

[ChasingCoral]

Before coping I wanted to ask you. Be polite opens doors - everywhere! Thank you for your OK! Hope we keep in contact. Maybe I give some informations from Germany to you if you're interested in?

Sure. This forum is all about getting the most information to Mach E owners and prospective owners as possible.

 

[portlandg]

can't believe I'm the first to post this being in UK
2021 Mustang Mach-E Production Scheduled To Begin This October https://fordauthority.com/2020/07/2021-mustang-mach-e-production-scheduled-to-begin-this-october/

Apparently it has been confirmed that MME production is to start 26 October. A bit later than was thought.

 

[portlandg]

If this is indeed the case then it will interesting to know what the daily production is planned to be. Ford will obviously concentrate on the US cars so that they can say that they stuck to their 2020 delivery estimate. Deliveries for the UK and EUR are looking more like they will be March now which I suppose can still be classed as 'early 2021' . I now imagine our order book opening in August.

 

[opennetus]

Deliveries in "late 2020" doesn't mean that all deliveries to US customers will be in late 2020. Same for Europe with "Early 2021". As long a single car is delivered they can say that. What I would like to know is when the last reserved car is expected to be delivered. Or when the median car will be delivered. Or at least the production rate (how many will be produced per week and how long of a delivery time after production). Just saying deliveries start within such a broad range as a 6 month period is not very helpful.

I am a little disappointed that the first car won't even make it to the end of the assembly line until the end of October. I wonder if that date is just for customer cars or all cars (like ones destined to dealerships for test drives, press reviews, government tests for range/safety/regulations, etc. It seems like it shouldn't take that long to set up tooling, though I guess I have no idea how long it should take.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Deliveries in "late 2020" doesn't mean that all deliveries to US customers will be in late 2020. Same for Europe with "Early 2021". As long a single car is delivered they can say that. What I would like to know is when the last reserved car is expected to be delivered. Or when the median car will be delivered. Or at least the production rate (how many will be produced per week and how long of a delivery time after production). Just saying deliveries start within such a broad range as a 6 month period is not very helpful.

I am a little disappointed that the first car won't even make it to the end of the assembly line until the end of October. I wonder if that date is just for customer cars or all cars (like ones destined to dealerships for test drives, press reviews, government tests for range/safety/regulations, etc. It seems like it shouldn't take that long to set up tooling, though I guess I have no idea how long it should take.

Hopefully this is customer cars. That would allow the August/September work to be the production of the ~4000 dealer and test vehicles.

 

[OdellBretthamJr]

Deliveries in "late 2020" doesn't mean that all deliveries to US customers will be in late 2020. Same for Europe with "Early 2021". As long a single car is delivered they can say that. What I would like to know is when the last reserved car is expected to be delivered. Or when the median car will be delivered. Or at least the production rate (how many will be produced per week and how long of a delivery time after production). Just saying deliveries start within such a broad range as a 6 month period is not very helpful.

I am a little disappointed that the first car won't even make it to the end of the assembly line until the end of October. I wonder if that date is just for customer cars or all cars (like ones destined to dealerships for test drives, press reviews, government tests for range/safety/regulations, etc. It seems like it shouldn't take that long to set up tooling, though I guess I have no idea how long it should take.

I agree, I’m a little disappointed that production won’t start for nearly 4 more months. If I remember correctly the plant in Mexico already has most of the supplies there.

 

[ChasingCoral]

OK, I just poked around in Blue Oval Forums and saw:

On 7/5/2020 at 8:11 AM, ice-capades said:
Per Friday's FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin), here's the production timetable for the 2021 Mustang Mach-E.

• 06/22/2020 - 2021MY Order Bank Open Date
• 08/20/2020 - 2021MY Scheduling Begins
• 10/26/2020 - 2021MY Job #1 Date

So that explains the news broken by Ford Authority.

This also means that reservations converted to orders by the 7/31 First Edition deadline will be part of the first build scheduling. Not sure if orders through 8/20 would still make it into the first scheduling. We'd need someone with more details on how that works to be sure.

 

[mattsaradan]

OK, I just poked around in Blue Oval Forums and saw:

On 7/5/2020 at 8:11 AM, ice-capades said:
Per Friday's FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin), here's the production timetable for the 2021 Mustang Mach-E.

• 06/22/2020 - 2021MY Order Bank Open Date
• 08/20/2020 - 2021MY Scheduling Begins
• 10/26/2020 - 2021MY Job #1 Date

So that explains the news broken by Ford Authority.

This also means that reservations converted to orders by the 7/31 First Edition deadline will be part of the first build scheduling. Not sure if orders through 8/20 would still make it into the first scheduling. We'd need someone with more details on how that works to be sure.

I also wonder what happens between 8/20 and 10/26. I know very little about auto manufacturing but that does seem like a long time.

 

[JCHLi]

I also wonder what happens between 8/20 and 10/26. I know very little about auto manufacturing but that does seem like a long time.

Based on what I know about manufacturing, what happens between 8/20 and 10/26?... Coffee breaks!

 

[hybrid2bev]

I also wonder what happens between 8/20 and 10/26. I know very little about auto manufacturing but that does seem like a long time.

Think about the last project you worked on. What took longer, the preparations or the actual work? It’s the whole measure twice, cut once sort of thing.

Once the orders are put into production sequencing, now we know how many parts are needed and when. Now multiply that preparation by a few hundred parts. Then multiply that preparation by several thousand copies of those parts. Everything needs to be sequenced and staged in the right places so that production can run smooth once it gets started. Where are the parts stored? How do the parts get from storage to the production floor? Where do the vehicles go after they are built and prepared for shipping? There are hundreds of things to work out so the process can run efficiently.

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