08/10/2004 – LONDON, Ontario, Canada

As the world’s athletes gathered in Athens, preparing for the opening ceremony to the pinnacle of athletic achievement, the Olympic Games, a somewhat more low-key ceremony took place with a number of the world’s top automotive suppliers gathered for an opening celebration of their own, at what could well become a pinnacle of automobile manufacturing achievement in N. America - the new Ford ‘Millennium’ Supplier Park in Chicago, IL.

Coinciding perfectly with the company’s 100th year anniversary, Ford pulled out all the stops to hail the launch of this complex, which has been referred to as the “Millennium Project” since its inception and planning began a number of years ago. Aided with full fanfare in their celebrations by companies, including TDS, who call the Supplier Park home, the event was by all measures a resounding success.

The TDS Tier Zero™ facility, as others on-site, opened their doors for the day and welcomed a steady stream of visitors from Ford, Brose, Lear, Plastech, Tower, Visteon, SY-Systems, and ZF Lemforder, to name a few.

Meanwhile, representing TDS automotive over at the car assembly plant, Rob Vanderlaan, Vice President Operations North America, joined an impressive array of dignitaries from Ford, and other Millennium suppliers, to partake in the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. With one small ‘snip’ from Ford Vice President Purchasing, Tony Brown, a giant leap was taken by Ford Motor Company as the Ford Chicago ‘Millennium’ Supplier Park was officially declared open.

With that ‘snip’ also came the official launch of the new Ford vehicles to be manufactured in Chicago; the Ford Five-Hundred, Mercury Montego, and the Ford FreeStyle.

Millennium is considered to be a major investment in the future of Ford’s Car production and the Chicago environment. It represents a new concept in automotive manufacturing for North America, integrating key suppliers within a ‘supplier park’ surrounding the assembly plant. This concept, developed in the 20th century but implemented in the 21st has already proven successful in Europe and Japan.

TDS serves as an integral link in Chicago with its Tier Zero™ facility delivering an economy of scale which has provided its Tier 1 customers, Visteon, Flex N Gate, Decoma, Plascoat, Aisin, and Facil, an on-site presence without the requirement or expense for them to locate stand alone satellite facilities. Services provided by TDS automotive Chicago include small lot metering, sequencing and assembly.