Client: Ford Motor Company
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Project Type: Vehicle Manufacturer
Contract Amount: $250,000,000 USD
Delivery Method: Construction Management
Project Size: 2,500,000 sq. ft.
Start Date: January 2005
Completion Date: October 2006
Architect/Engineer: Gala & Associates and CKGP & Associates

Ford - U387/U388 Program Management Services

For the retrofit of Ford's Oakville Ontario Assembly plant, Alberici Constructors, Ltd. was selected to provide complete safety management, design coordination, budgeting, scheduling, quality control and tool vendor coordination for Ford's new vehicle launch.  At the time of award, the program was estimated at $250M over a period of 22 months. Alberici was joined by Gala & Associates, Inc. as facility designers and CKGP & Associates as process designers.

The scope of the project was to retrofit Ford's existing, but antiquated body, trim and paint shops where the F-150 pick up truck was manufactured until the fall 2003.  Upon completion of the project, Ford would use a flexible manufacturing system which allows more than one vehicle model to be assembled on the same line without the need for costly shut downs or frequent re-tooling.

Since the award was one of the largest ACL has received, this meant the company needed a large, high performance team to manage it and the future challenges.  Alberici's 22-member team was led by the Canadian operation's senior manager in the automotive sector.  ACL has experienced excellent success in previous program management and construction management arrangements, with the most notable element being the leadership and respect that Alberici exemplified on each project.  It seemed logical to build the team with staff that had shared in the success of those past projects. 

The enormity of the task was recognized and the short time frame under which it was to be delivered was evident. Funding was the most critical issue that had to be managed and the innovation of the team was challenged from the start.  Any lack of funding and/or timely design approval would virtually erode the initial six months of potential work execution. The first window of opportunity to execute six months of planning was during summer shut down. 

During this short period of time, most OEMs in Ontario were looking to do the same type of work, creating a huge demand for skilled trades at a point when the workforce was getting smaller.  The team successfully managed the subcontractors, the CAW, the schedule and the budget over three intense weeks of pressure. As 2005 came to a close, the team was prepared for the last big push as well as body shop tooling installation, trim shop work stations and tooling, truss cuts and reinforcing, and several civil packages in preparation for a spring completion.