As the iconic automobile manufacturing plant approaches its seventh decade, transforming it into a cutting-edge, future-proof facility poised to capitalize on the revolutionary potential of AI-powered autonomous driving presents a daunting array of hurdles. Among those drawings from the Sixties and using the imperial system.
Dan Ford, website director at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood, Merseyside, England-based facility, recounts that they required a comprehensive survey before departing with the tape measure. As we began to excavate, however, we discovered that the architect’s drawings were inaccurate; our first obstacle was an unanticipated drainpipe.
Notwithstanding a brief disruption caused by a minor roadwork delay, triggered by Britain’s pleasant climate and a timely August downpour that set the project back by 48 hours, Jaguar Land Rover’s £250 million ($323.4 million) revamp of its Halewood plant has proceeded with ease. Located approximately 10 miles off the River Mersey from Liverpool, Halewood has historically been inextricably linked to the UK’s automotive sector, particularly given its status as home to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the nation’s largest automotive employer. The company’s new premises are likely to be built within a dedicated manufacturing facility located in Solihull. Established in 1963, Ford of Britain’s plant began manufacturing the iconic Anglia, a small family saloon that gained popularity for its futuristic design and nickname “the flying car.” In late 2020, the company initiated plans to revamp the facility. By embracing digital innovation, Ford’s team replaced traditional measuring techniques with cutting-edge digital twins, meticulously mapping out an impressive 1,000 square meters (10,764 square feet) of their facility from floor to ceiling, a feat accomplished every weekend.
Halewood, formerly a site for producing cars, has undergone modifications to support the production of vehicles for the long-term future. A fleet of 750 robots, reminiscent of Ford’s Terracotta Army, joins hands with laser alignment expertise and cloud-based infrastructure to support a workforce of 3,500 JLR employees on the expanded manufacturing facility floor – now spanning 32,364 square meters (348,363 square feet) – to facilitate production of the manufacturer’s next-generation vehicles. New calibration rigs assess the responsiveness of an automobile’s advanced driver-assistance systems, mirroring its cameras and sensor capabilities. Ford suggests that security ranges could be fine-tuned for the development of autonomous driving capabilities in the future.
In the inaugural phase of Halewood’s revitalization effort, a state-of-the-art physique store was established, comprising two levels discreetly separated by a substantial 2.5-meter (8-foot) concrete barrier to accommodate the installation of heavy machinery, capable of producing an impressive 500 automobile bodies daily. The newly developed electric vehicle model is currently in the pre-production phase, with a planned launch date of 2025 for thorough examination and testing purposes only. Fourty new autonomous cellular robots are now assisting Halewood workers in manufacturing high-voltage batteries. A cutting-edge facility boasts a £10 million ($12.9 million) investment in an automated, state-of-the-art painted body storage tower, capable of accommodating up to 600 vehicles, which can be retrieved via crane-based systems to fulfill just-in-time customer demands.
Halewood becomes Jaguar Land Rover’s inaugural all-electric production site. The UK government’s zero-emission vehicle mandate, as part of its strategy to transition to a net-zero financial system by 2050, came into effect in early 2024, requiring at least 22% of all new car sales to be zero-emission vehicles from that date onwards. Legislation has driven businesses to accelerate the production of electric vehicles, with a mandatory deadline to cease sales of new petrol cars by 2035, mirroring similar regulations within the European Union. By 2030, all of JLR’s luxury brands may boast a pure electric model, with the Range Rover Electric slated for preorder. The company’s only available battery-electric vehicle, the Jaguar I-Pace, which debuted in 2018, will be discontinued.
