ford brazil

[todd]

http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189
pay attention to the comments at 3:00
interesting take

 

[gtinmyblood]

Several of the tier one automotive suppliers are customers of mine and I have seen this plant. There is no doubt that "Ford has a better idea:. Sometimes the difference between theory and practical application is political. The auto manufacturers have NO CHANCE of surviving here unless drastic changes are made...like this one.

 

[HiloDave]

Mullaly should show this video at the "bailout" hearings.

 

[djs]

Excellent piece Todd, and thank you.
Re the comments around 3:00. DUH!

 

[fjpikul]

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Henry himself start a utopian type colony there back in the 20's that failed? Were going to grow their own rubber trees, planted too close together, plant disease, whole project failed and fell into a state of despair? Is this the same place?

 

[Cobrar]

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Henry himself start a utopian type colony there back in the 20's that failed? Were going to grow their own rubber trees, planted too close together, plant disease, whole project failed and fell into a state of despair? Is this the same place?

The project internally was called "Fordlandia" I believe. After spending somewhere around $20M Ford abandoned the project and sold the land back to Brazil.

A very different project than Camcari (the video above) and in a different location, it was supposed to produce natural rubber, not cars. For'd Camcari project ironicllay was refeered to as "Amazon" ~ not the dot com entity. Below is a link to a one year old article on the Camcari plant and some important 'lessons learned' :

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN1932361020071128?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0