Ford's Romeo, Mich., Engine Plant produces 10 millionth engine

After years of delivering power to two of Ford Motor Company's iconic products, the Ford F-150 and Mustang, Romeo Engine Plant has reached a historic milestone—the production of its 10 millionth engine.

The 10 millionth engine, a 4.6 liter 3-valve V-8, will be shipped to AutoAlliance International in Flat Rock, Mich., to be installed in a new 2010 Mustang GT.

"Romeo Engine's products are powering two of Ford's iconic vehicles and we focus on quality every minute of every day," said Plant Manager Shaun Whitehead. "We deal with a great deal of complexity on our lines, and we've had very strong quality performance over a very long period of time."

The Romeo plant, converted from a tractor manufacturing facility, produced its first engine in 1990—a 4.6-liter, two-valve V-8. Today the plant, with a thousand employees, manufactures V-8 engines along with many of their major components including cast iron blocks, crankshafts, cylinder heads, connecting rods, camshafts and aluminum blocks.

The plant operates two lines—a high-volume Line, or HVL, and a niche line, where employees meticulously hand build 5.4 liter, 4-valve supercharged engines for the Shelby GT500. The HVL builds 4.6 liter two-valve and three-valve V-8 engines and 4.6 liter 2-valve Flex Fuel V-8 engines, delivering 140 engines an hour.

"We have more than 600 purchase parts from more than 150 suppliers so we deal with a large amount of intricate processes and parts on our line," Whitehead said. "We have 11 different models on the line that we handle for seven different assembly plant customers—as well as the Ford Customer Service Division."

The engines are shipped to plants in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and Canada where they are placed in the F-150, Mustang, Econoline, Explorer, Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis models.