Ford Motor Company has selected Cross Hüller´s Ludwigsburg, Germany, facility as the simultaneous engineering partner for a new cylinder head manufacturing system. Cross Hüller expects to receive the final design and build order for the high-volume flexible manufacturing equipment within the next few months. Cross Hüller has also received an advanced engineering order from Ford Motor Company for a new cylinder block manufacturing system. The order will allow Ford and Cross Hüller engineers to finalize detailed design and build specifications, production rates, site location and delivery schedules.

The orders follow a long history of successful programs supplied by Cross Hüller. The most recent examples are the new global family of in-line engine blocks, currently being installed in Ford?s Dearborn, USA, and Chihuahua, Mexico, engine plants, and a major rework of a Cross Hüller system to produce V8 cylinder blocks at Ford?s Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Canada. The latter system produced cylinder blocks one year and seven days after initial order placement - an outstanding achievement, considering that the line was originally designed to produce V6 cylinder blocks.

The new cylinder block system will feature Cross Hüller?s Global Transfer Line 2000 architecture. According to Ron Quaile, Vice President of Sales and Proposal Engineering, "Global Transfer Line 2000 is easily the most modular and most convertible transfer line design available anywhere in the world. It?s a true global standard that integrates the best practices from each of our major facilities. Global Transfer Line 2000 allows us to reduce costs while improving delivery time and reliability and maintainability characteristics."

Cross Hüller is a business unit of Hüller Hille GmbH. With divisions in USA, England and Germany, Cross Hüller provides low, medium and high volume modular transfer line and agile production systems to the global automotive and off-road / construction industries.