Ford Otosan has doubled the number of its factories that are cited as examples of production worldwide

Following its Gölcük factory, Ford Otosan has also joined the "Global Lighthouse Network" with its Yeniköy factory.

Following its Gölcük Factory becoming the first automotive manufacturer from Turkey to be included in the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Network in 2019, Ford Otosan has now received the same prestigious award for the second time, this time for its Yeniköy Factory. The Yeniköy Factory, built with the vision of being a "factory of the future," achieved this success just two years after its opening, once again confirming Ford Otosan's level of digital transformation on a global scale.

Thus, by increasing the number of its production facilities included in this prestigious platform to two, Ford Otosan has achieved a great success in Turkey and globally.

In today's automotive industry, which is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, increasing product variety and fragile supply chain structures are forcing manufacturers to be more efficient, more flexible, more predictive, and more resilient. Ford Otosan, with its digital transformation efforts that have been ongoing since 2015, 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 this vision, the Yeniköy Factory, which was redesigned and brought to life in November 2023, was accepted into the prestigious Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) platform by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which brings together the world's most advanced manufacturing facilities in the field of Industry 4.0. Ford Otosan has increased the number of its manufacturing facilities recognized as examples globally by the Global Lighthouse Network to two, and has achieved the distinction of being the first manufacturing company from Turkey to have two facilities represented on this prestigious platform.

At the same time, Ford Otosan is one of the few companies in the world with two facilities in the Global Lighthouse Network, and it is also the only manufacturing organization within Ford Motor Company included in this network.

Güven Özyurt: “We are strengthening our position as a game-changer in digital transformation”

Ford Otosan General Manager Güven Özyurt stated the following regarding the matter: “As Ford Otosan, in addition to our Gölcük Factory, which joined the Global Lighthouse Network in 2019, we are now proud to have our Yeniköy Factory on this prestigious platform. Our long-term digital transformation journey, which we started in 2015, has become an integral part of the systems that determine what, when, and how we do things in production. With our flexible structure at the Yeniköy Factory, capable of producing internal combustion, hybrid, and electric engines on the same line, we can manage high-octave complexity with data, and we can clearly plan for the future with our learning and resilient production model. The recognition of the success of our teams, who made this model possible in a short period of two years with its reconstruction, within the WEF is a great achievement.

As the only automotive company from Turkey to be included in this platform, being present with both of our factories on this platform, where the leading facilities of the world's most prestigious organizations are located, is a great achievement for our company..." "This is also a great source of pride for our country. This prestigious award means that the level our company has reached in digital transformation and our leadership in our sector has been once again certified on a global scale by an independent and reliable authority. With our award-winning facilities, we are leading the world in smart manufacturing technologies and further strengthening our position as a global 'game changer' in the Industry 4.0 transformation."

Yeniköy was designed as the "Factory of the Future"

Thanks to its flexible production capabilities, Ford Otosan can achieve lean and efficient production on a single line despite having over 4,000 different product types. The Yeniköy Factory's success is largely due to its intelligent flexible production management platform, AI-based predictive maintenance systems, intelligent employee support systems, GenAI-supported quality platforms, and AI-supported energy management systems.

Ford Otosan, a leader in digital transformation and artificial intelligence applications, is taking its pioneering role even further at its Yeniköy Factory, managing this facility end-to-end with real-time data flow and AI support. Based on the closed-loop model, a fundamental characteristic of smart factories, production planning at the Yeniköy Factory is carried out using advanced data analytics. This allows for highly dynamic management of changes in demand, supply, and processes. The intelligent and flexible production infrastructure, managed end-to-end with real-time data and AI support, maximizes operational efficiency through advanced robotics, machine vision, and digital twin applications based on simulation models.

AI technologies used in production line design, scenario-based capacity analyses, real-time sequencing and optimization between lines increase capacity utilization while reducing waiting times. The seamless integration of AI optimizes different aspects of production for efficiency and sustainability, while cobots, designed to collaborate with humans by undertaking repetitive or physically demanding tasks, maximize productivity in a human-machine collaboration production environment. With the Quality AI Agent, which analyzes past actions and the solution library, problem-solving speed is taken to the next level.

At the Yeniköy Factory, more than 1000 different versions of the Transit Custom are currently produced for over 90 export markets. Thanks to the established strong technical infrastructure, it is possible to produce this high variety on a single production line, and both electric and internal combustion vehicles can be produced on the same production line.

Responding to the dynamics of the global supply chain and the increasing personalization needs in the commercial vehicle segment with a data-driven value chain, Ford Otosan successfully manages a 12-fold increase in product variety while doubling its production volume with more than 60 technological solutions developed by its own engineers.