Ford Motor Company has launched its first new vehicle assembly plant in metro Detroit in more than a decade. Providing logistics support for the new plant, TNT Logistics North America has opened a dedicated “Material Sequencing Center” (MSC) that now offers sequencing, inventory control, small and large part metering, container management and transportation services.
“Ford has invested more than $2 billion in the Rouge project,” said Bill Sheeran, general manager, automotive logistics, TNT Logistics North America. “It has turned Henry Ford’s model of 20th-century manufacturing into Bill Ford’s vision of 21st-century manufacturing that nurtures workers, the environment and shareholders. We’re pleased we could be part of this historic transformation by opening our new state-of-the-art logistics center to feed this plant.”
The 340,000-square-foot facility is located close to the new Ford Dearborn Truck Plant in nearby Brownstown. By full launch of the Ford plant, the TNT facility will have added more than 100 new jobs to the area. The project is the result of a $7.7 million capital investment by TNT Logistics North America in the downriver community. The facility lease was recognized as the fourth largest industrial lease for Metro-Detroit in 2003, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. (February 9, 2004).
More than 1,700 part numbers are handled through the center. Two dozen of the commodities are sequenced into specially designed racks for line-side delivery to the truck manufacturing facility in correct build order. At full production sometime in this summer, there will be more than 8,500 containers delivered each day to the plant from the TNT Logistics facility.
TNT Logistics personnel will be loading and delivering material to the plant on a scheduled, synchronized daily pattern. Each load is designed to maximize available space and minimize travel time within the plant.
For more information, visit www.tntlogistics.us
