In its efforts to ramp up hybrid engine production, Ford Motor Co. will use design for Six Sigma for the first time in a major powertrain program. Ford’s new 250-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6 engine, also known as the Duratec 35, will be built at the company’s Lima Engine Plant in Ohio. The new engine represents Ford’s first use of DFSS in a major powertrain program. Ford has committed to increasing hybrid production to 250,000 vehicles by 2010, and has also started engineering a hybrid transaxle for the automobiles.

"We’re ramping up our capacity for hybrids and working to improve the business equation for hybrids," says Gerhard Schmidt, vice president of Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. "This involves not only the new transaxle, but continuing to research advanced technologies to improve hybrid technology to make our vehicles even more efficient."

For more information, visit www.ford.com.

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