The virtual tools – part of Ford’s powerful Global Product Development System – help Ford optimize the assembly process, make best practices more universal, and facilitate ergonomics to ensure assembly workers are able to do their best and deliver consistently high quality.

Taking advantage of virtual manufacturing technology, teams of engineers, manufacturing specialists and assembly plant workers around the world gathered in front of large projection screens in North America, Europe and Asia to build the first next-generation Ford Focus virtually piece by piece, operation by operation, down to its high-quality, high-tech paint finish more than a year before its market debut.

“It was an exciting moment,” said Bruce Hettle, executive director, Global Manufacturing, Ford Motor Company. “We built the car part by part from start to finish, from the first piece of sheet metal. And with every step, each plant – here in North America, in Europe and in Asia-Pacific – raised its hand to say, ‘Yes, we confirm we can do that.’ And it wasn’t just engineers and executives. It was also the people who will build the cars on the plant floor.”