OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2015.  To celebrate Christmas, the creative team at the Niehl plant in Cologne recently took a Fiesta ‘sleigh’ on a journey along the production lines delivering a present to employees.

Employees on all three shifts and colleagues from the logistics and quality departments received a chocolate Santa Claus.

"The idea was to express some recognition," explained Vic Daenen, head of vehicle production in Niehl.

The gesture acknowledged the work of employees and the donations they have made to the Ford Niehl Christmas Campaign, which raised funds for the "Ronald McDonald" house. The house is located near to a local children's hospital and is open to families of children who are receiving treatment for cancer.

"Some of our colleagues work there voluntarily and we heard that the project was under financial pressure," said Anne-Katharina Bille, engineer and member of the creative team.

For the sleigh event, the head of maintenance took two red Fiesta car bodies from the paint shop which would have been scrapped. With the support of trainees, they were converted in the Kaizen workshop.

"First of all we cut off the roof and then we added edge protection," explained Ridvan Guri. “Snow foam, Christmas stars, bells, a Christmas tree and two reindeer transformed the car body into an original Santa mobile.”