Ford Chooses Castrol Multi-Pack Fluid for New Engine Production at Dagenham

Citation

(2006), "Ford Chooses Castrol Multi-Pack Fluid for New Engine Production at Dagenham", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 58 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.2006.01858cad.001

Ford Chooses Castrol Multi-Pack Fluid for New Engine Production at Dagenham

Ford Chooses Castrol Multi-Pack Fluid for New Engine Production at Dagenham

Castrol has been chosen by Ford of Britain as the supplier of production fluids for its new DVM-4 engine range. The four-cylinder diesel engines go into full production in July 2007 at the company’s engine plant at Dagenham, Essex, England, with a predicted output of 400,000 units per year.

Castrol spokesman Simon Taylor says the contract was won with an innovative combination of products featuring a new multi-pack soluble metalworking fluid and a mutually compatible range of associated fluids that eliminate the process of continuous contamination experienced with traditional products.

Explaining the benefits, he says all metalworking fluids are susceptible to water evaporation and contamination from other machine fluids, which can quickly affect their performance. The only way to counter this with a conventional fluid is to change the concentration and/or introduce substantial quantities of additives.

Castrol’s new EM400 multi-pack product on the other hand, is a two-component soluble oil – complete with a package of additives – that is designed to be managed “tankside” in the machine shop. The individual components are mixed in the tank, allowing the formula to be adjusted hour-by-hour to maintain optimum performance. This ensures ideal working conditions for the machining process at all times, and minimises fluid wastage.

In addition – and this is the real innovation – Castrol is supplying a mutually compatible range of associated machine fluids, including hydraulic oils, slideway oils, spindle oils, neat oils and cleaners, that eliminate contamination and enable the metalworking fluid to be easily recycled and mixed back into the system.

With 13 central systems ranging from 11,000 to 112,000 l capacity, Castrol estimates that the combination of dramatic reduction in product use and an associated reduction in waste will save Ford £500,000 a year on the DVM-4 lines at Dagenham.

A spokesman for Ford says DVM-4 is one of the company’s global best practice engine lines, and the coolant technology being developed there in partnership with Castrol will be the basis of best practice for future engine lines.

For more information visit www.castrol.com/industrial