Today, when the automotive industry is going through an unprecedented transformation process, increasing product diversity and fragile supply chain structures force manufacturers to be more efficient, more flexible, more foresighted and durable. With the digital transformation efforts it has been carrying out since 2015, Ford Otosan has now joined the Global Lighthouse Network with its Yeniköy Factory. Following the Gölcük Factory, which joined the Global Lighthouse Network in 2019, Ford Otosan has become a global role model with its Yeniköy Factory.
Within the framework of this vision, the Yeniköy Factory, which was redesigned and implemented in November 2023, was accepted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to the prestigious Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) platform, which brings together the world’s most advanced production facilities in the field of Industry 4.0. While Ford Otosan increased the number of its production facilities, which are considered exemplary on a global scale by the Global Lighthouse Network, to two, it succeeded in becoming the first production company from Türkiye to take part in this prestigious platform with two facilities.
At the same time, Ford Otosan is one of the few companies in the world with two facilities in the Global Lighthouse Network, and is also the only production organization included in this network within Ford Motor Company.
Güven Özyurt: “We are strengthening our position as a playmaker in digital transformation”
Ford Otosan General Manager Güven ÖzyurtIn his evaluation on the subject, he said: “As Ford Otosan, in addition to our Gölcük Factory, which was included in the Global Lighthouse Network in 2019, we are now proud to take part in this prestigious platform with our Yeniköy Factory. The long-term digital transformation journey we started in 2015 has become an integral part of the systems that decide what, when and how we will do in production. The Yeniköy Factory has a flexible system that can produce internal combustion, hybrid and electric engines on the same line.” With our structure, we can manage high-octave complexity with data, and we can clearly plan the future with the learning and durable production model we have established. It is a great success that the success of our teams, who made this model possible with its reconstruction in a short period of two years, is appreciated within the WEF.
As the only automotive company from Türkiye included in this platform, it is a great source of pride for both our company and our country to take part with both our factories in this platform, where the world’s most prestigious organizations take part with their leading facilities. This distinguished award means that the level our company has reached in digital transformation and our leadership in our industry is once again certified on a global scale by an independent and reliable authority. “We lead the world in smart production technologies with our award-winning facilities, and we further strengthen our position as a ‘playmaker’ who has a say in the Industry 4.0 transformation on a global scale.”
Yeniköy was designed as the “Factory of the Future”
Thanks to its flexible production capabilities, Ford Otosan can carry out lean and efficient production on a single line, despite a variety of over 4 thousand products. Smart flexible production management platform, artificial intelligence-based predictive maintenance systems, smart employee support systems, GenAI-supported quality platforms and artificial intelligence-supported energy management systems played a critical role in the Yeniköy Factory’s achievement of this success.
Taking its leadership in digital transformation and artificial intelligence applications even further at the Yeniköy Factory, Ford Otosan manages this facility end-to-end with instant data flow and artificial intelligence support. Production planning at the Yeniköy Factory, which is based on the closed loop model, which is the main feature of smart factories, is carried out with advanced data analytics. In this way, changes in demand, supply and processes can be managed in an extremely dynamic manner. Digital twin applications based on advanced robotics, machine vision and simulation models maximize the efficiency of operations in the facility, which is managed end-to-end with smart and flexible production infrastructure, instant data and artificial intelligence support.
With artificial intelligence technologies used in the design of production lines, scenario-based capacity analyses, real-time sorting and optimization between lines, capacity utilization is increased and waiting times are reduced. The seamless integration of artificial intelligence maximizes efficiency in the human-machine collaboration production environment, thanks to cobots designed to collaborate with humans by undertaking repetitive or physically demanding tasks, while optimizing different aspects of production for efficiency and sustainability. With Quality AI Agent, which analyzes past actions and solution library, problem solving speed is taken to the next level.
More than 1000 different versions of the Transit Custom are currently produced at the Yeniköy Factory for over 90 export markets. Thanks to the established strong technical structure, it becomes possible to produce this high diversity on a single production line and to produce both electric and internal combustion vehicles on the same production line.
Responding to the dynamics of the global supply chain and the increasing customization needs in the commercial vehicle segment with a data-driven value chain, Ford Otosan doubles its production volume with more than 60 technological solutions developed by its own engineers and successfully manages a 12-fold increase in product diversity.
Automobile Magazine – English
