Frosty Florida? Eglin' McKinley Lab proves to be ideal spot for Ford's cold ... - The Northwest Florida Daily News
The Ford employees are spending three weeks at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory, one of the crown jewels of Eglin’s assets and the world’s largest facility of its kind. Engineers from Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, and from Mexico will be coming to the lab to test everything from the smallest Fiesta to the biggest Super Duty trucks. And while it might seem counterintuitive, those engineers are descending on Florida to test how well their vehicles will perform at extremely cold – as in -20 degrees Fahrenheit – temperatures. “We started the week at 20 degrees above zero, and will work our way down to around -40,”said Rich Shimon, a Ford technical expert. We’re able to get 72 vehicles in the chamber and allow 54 engineers to work. ” On Friday, three popular Ford models – an F-350 truck, an Explorer and a Focus – sat in the middle of the cavernous testing chamber. But when Shimon sat down in the Explorer’s driver’s seat and turned the key, it started quickly, even while its dashboard thermometer registered the outside temperature at a frigid -20. Ford has been coming to Eglin to do cold-weather testing for... In fact, the lab’s calendar is almost completely full through 2020. The lab is staffed by five civil service test engineers and about 48 employees of InDyne, the contractor who handles Eglin’s basewide operations and maintenance testing needs. Source: www.nwfdailynews.com
