Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 10 July 2014
“Technical Memories (Part 82) –The Ford Expansion”
“For 50 years the Ford Company has been part of the industrial life of this city but of course Fords links with Cork go back much further. The story of Henry Ford, whose father emigrated from Ballinascarty 120 weary years ago is so well-known that much of it is already folklore. Indeed the record of his life and achievements looms large in the history of the development of modern industrial methods, many of which he devised and brought to perfection” (part of speech, An Taoiseach Jack Lynch, Ford Factory, Cork, 11 October, 1967,)
The decade of the 1960s also brought new opportunities to the Ford manufacturing plant in Cork’s Marina. The special supplement in the Cork Examiner in October 1967 describes that it was the post World War II years that really saw the major growth in car assembly. Since 1946, Ford had almost invariably taken around one-third of the car market total and an even higher share of the commercial vehicle figure. Since the 1950s, Ford consistently captured between 25 per cent and 35 per cent of the Irish car market, and between 35 and 40 per cent of the Irish commercial vehicle market. It had an impressive record – taking passenger and commercial vehicles together, it was the best market share of any Ford Company in the world. The Cork Ford Plant turned out the widest range of vehicles under one badge on the Irish market with some 14 different passenger models and a wide selection of commercials. The total Ford area covered 33 acres and the growth of the factory increased more than 200 per cent in the decade between 1956 and 1966. By 1967, it had about 1,000 employees assembling cars and commercial vehicles for use throughout the Republic.
When the Cork plant came to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 1967, it was a working celebration. Tom Brennan, who had taken over as Managing Director from John O’Neill in 1959, had persuaded Ford’s European Management to invest £2m in Cork. He believed this was necessary in order to bring car production up to the very highest standards prevailing in Europe. Tom Brennan had first entered the gates of the Ford plant in May 1922, when he was 16 years of age. In his first ten years he worked in various departments in Cork and was transferred to the works in Dagenham in 1932. His top appointment while in England was as Area Sales Manager. He rejoined the firm in Cork in 1955 as General Sales Manager and became Managing Director.
The man Tom Brennan chose to implement the expansion was a fellow Corkman, Paddy Hayes, who, some years later, was to succeed him as Managing Director of Ford of Ireland. The £2m was spent on re-building, re-equipping and modernising the assembly plant, which became not only the largest factory of its kind but also the most modern. Half a million pounds was invested in an ultra modern body-finishing department, with Europe’s largest ‘slipper-dip’ immersion under-coating tank guaranteeing a high-quality base for final paint coatings. The remainder of the assembly plant was completely re-organised, re-equipped and re-housed in new light-alloy, unitary construction buildings covering an area of over 117,000 square feet. This meant two separate final-assembly lines, one for heavy commercial vehicles and the second and major unit for passenger and light commercial vehicles. Incorporated in the new facilities was a parts-and-accessories building holding millions of parts, representing a stock of over 23,000 separate items. The factory extensions virtually reversed the plant orientation since the previous wharf-side entrance was closed and all traffic now entered by Centre Park Road- known locally as Ford’s Road.
The official opening ceremony of the new buildings took place on 11 October 1967. The Taoiseach Jack Lynch, headed the 350 guests at the Marina Plant in the morning and there he cut a tape to symbolise the opening of the modern plant. The plant was blessed by Bishop Lucey. The Taoiseach who was accorded a military guard of honour, and the guests were taken on a short tour of the factory culminating in seeing completed cars driven off the assembly lines. Both were attended to by Thomas Brennan, the Managing Director and Ballincollig born Sir Patrick Hennessy, Chairman of Ford Motor Company, England and Chairman of Henry Ford & Son Ltd. He was educated at Christ Church School in Cork and served in World War I. Joining the new tractor factory in Cork after demobilisation he rose rapidly from his job in the foundry to become production manager and travelled extensively in Europe.
When Fords started in Dagenham Patrick joined them there as Purchase Manager and became General Manager just before the outbreak of the 1939 war. He served on the advisory council of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and helped in the production of 34,000 RR Merlin engines for the RAF. For his services he was knighted in 1941. When the war ended he joined the board of the Ford Motor Company, became Managing Director in 1948, Deputy Chairman in 1950 and Chairman in April 1956.
To be continued…
Caption:
750a. An Taoiseach, Jack Lynch TD cutting the tape with Mr Tom Brennan, Managing Director, and Bishop Lucey on left and Lord Mayor, Pearse Wyse TD on right (source: Cork City Library)