Cross Hüller Wins Engineering Order for Cylinder Blocks from Ford

Cross Hüller, a business unit of Hüller Hille GmbH, a division of Thyssen Production Systems, has received an order from Ford Motor Co to provide advanced engineering 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 new system will feature Cross Hüller's Global Transfer Line 2000 architecture, which, according to Ron Quaile, Cross Hüller VP- Sales and Proposal Engineering, "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, while achieving the demanding part tolerances and production capabilities required by Ford Motor Company and our other automotive customers."

Cross Hüller has a long history of successful cylinder block programs supplied to Ford plants throughout the world. The most recent programs are the new global family of in-line engine blocks, currently being installed in Ford's Dearborn, MI, 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, ON, Canada. The latter system produced cylinder blocks one year and seven days after initial order placement. This is regarded as "an outstanding achievement" since that line was originally designed to produce V6 cylinder blocks.

Cross Hüller provides service for the following brands: Colonial Broach, LaSalle, Buhr, Avey, Drillunit, Michigan Special Machines, Giddings & Lewis, Place, Cross & Trecker, Hüller Hille and TPS transfer machines.

Cross Hüller-North America is ISO 9001 certified, QS-9000-TE supplement compliant, and recently received Ford's prestigious Q1 award. Cross Hüller provides low, medium and high volume modular transfer line and agile production systems to the global automotive and off-road/construction industries.

Cross Hüller-North America, which is supported by two major sister divisions in Ludwigsburg, Germany, and Knowsley, England, provides a common global machine tool architecture, while offering local application engineering and support to each market area's unique needs.