AutoMOTIVE 5 - (Page 84)

dagenham.qxd 24/11/06 12:05 pm Page 84 check the pressure drop-off when the injectors are course, along with drivers simply wanting better opened, the vacuum within a cylinder is measured and performance and high quality. We have a lot of very throttle openings checked. The difference between a sophisticated tools for measuring that, continues Lake. cold test and a hot test? We find more issues in a cold test We carry out customer surveys, both telephone and on an engine than we do in a hot test, says Plaxton. In a written, we measure it within our dealerships and we cold test, you get a certain amount of NVH that you don't measure it with the number of parts we sell into the get on a hot test; you can check compressions without aftermarket and the warranty we get back. worrying about emissions, because all we compress is air. After years of stagnation until the early 1990s, the The DDC uses specially-commissioned cold-testing diesel business took off for two main reasons identified by equipment manufactured by Comau Pico. Lake. One was the technology that became available Phil Lake is Ford chief diesel engineer, with a staff of 320 which could make diesel engines the engines of choice. engine designers. He says that the most high-tech part of Turbo-charging was a key piece of technology first Ford business is the diesel engine. Electronic controls and introduced by Mercedes-Benz in the 1970s ; the other was fuel systems are very challenging. Dagenham has been the introduction of common-rail in 1997. The first direct developed into a value-added, high-tech facility. injection diesel engine was by Ford in the Transit of the Another challenge is the increasing weight of cars with time. so many options available to car-buyers. Increasingly strict Since the first all-important introduction of emission emission regulations and a demand for better fuel controls with EURO1 and with EURO4 now being in place, consumption continue to provide further challenges, of there has been a 91 percent reduction in particulates, a 95 84 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AutoMOTIVE 5

Editors Note
News
Here For The Long Haul
Halewood. Rebirth of a Car Plant
Safety First
Focus on Flexibility
A Prophet Without Honour?
Chrysler Cuts It Four Ways
A MINI For All Reasons
Porsche Plans Continuous Logistics Improvement
Flawless, Consistent Execution
Ford's European Supplier Parks Deliver Lean Manufacturing Efficiencies
Cheap and Cheerful
Onwards and Upwards
Schrader and Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems Take the Pressure
No Faults Forward
A Long Way From Wheelbarrows and Bath Tubs
A New Era in US/Japanese Cooperation
A Dialogue of the Deaf

AutoMOTIVE 5

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