Dejana Port Upfit Center

[madlock]

As I try to ensure I "measure twice and cut once", I had the good fortune of being invited to and visiting the Dejana port-side facility where all of the Transit Connect ship-through upfits are performed in addition to all manner of other custom and specialty upfits Dejana performs.

The folks at Dejana couldn't have been more welcoming or informative. Regrettably, integrating the installed upfits into Ford's standard production process like reflecting the specific vendor, fixture, and cost on a single window sticker, isn't likely to become any more homogeneous before production North American production begins and upfitting the Transit Connect doesn't have to occur as what is effectively a series of 20,000 individual "one offs", Dejana has a very slick facility and Ford seems to have chosen a business partner who really knows their stuff.

Having the good fortune of living close enough to their port facility, I'll likely be taking my vehicle directly to them for complete fitment. Not only do they have inventory on-hand; but an even-more important aspect is the staff who could knock-out a complete upfit installation in less than an hour with factory-like precision. They even have a team of crack graphics application folks on-site; and I had the chance to see several Siemens fleet vehicles in various stages of being custom-fitted and branded. A Siemens TC is a 110A XLT Cargo Van (no side or rear windows) with DTRL, Nokia Bluetooth and Reverse Sensing System, but shame on them for not providing their drivers with RSC.

One of the most useful tips I received was that any prospective customer who happens to be able to choose from a dealer's already-inbound but not-yet-landed vehicle can actually have the dealer add, modify, or delete any upfit right in the ship-through process without delaying or adding any additional lead-time to the vehicle. Unfortunately, dealers don't have access to each other's inbound inventory, so it only helps add a few vehicles to any given dealer's inventory to choose from. Even so, it's better than nothing; and it just may happen to include a suitable vehicle the dealer doesn't already have, especially if a particular dealer's inventory has already been upfitted using fixtures that aren't necessarily ideal for given buyer's needs.

It was a fascinating way to spend the afternoon. And while I sensed they were in a bit of a lull at the moment, they tend to run in "spurts" that coincide with each cargo ship delivering a new batch for fitment; and unless I was mistaken, I happened to see the WWL cargo ship pulling into port with another batch.

[PetrosA]

Very cool story. Thanks for the telling!