Today Ford announced the end of production at the Michigan Truck Plant and the start of its conversion to small vehicle production.
50 years of truck production
Opened in 1957, Ford’s Wayne, Michigan plant has a history of building everything from station wagon bodies for Wayne Assembly (next door) to the Ford Bronco and F-series truck. Up until today, it was responsible for building both the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator. The tooling for both those vehicles will now be moved to Kentucky Truck Assembly in Louisville, where production is slated to resume in the second quarter of 2009.
As for the Wayne facility, it’s about to embark on a new mission: building small cars from the automakers C-car platform beginning in 2010. In a move that seems almost prescient now, Ford, in 2005, invested $300 million in Michigan Truck to build a new, flexible body shop. That investment, in turn, will help streamline the current conversion to small vehicle production.
Today, 1,200 employees showed up to pay tribute to the plant’s history and witness the beginning of a new chapter. “This great workforce produced quality vehicles up to the very last one they built,” said Mike Torolski, plant manager. “We now are focused on our next phase – converting the truck plant to a car plant to begin producing global C-car based vehicles in 2010.”
Ford Fiesta
It’s a New World
As part of its continuing effort to re-tool existing plants for flexible operations by replacing older single-use tooling with modern reprogrammable tooling in body shops, Ford plans on investing an additional $75 million for body shop operations, while a larger investment waits for the conclusion of ongoing discussions with state and local governments in determining the terms of incentive support.
Michigan Truck, it should be noted, is one of three North American truck plants that are slated to be converted to small car assembly. The Cuautitlan, Mexico assembly plant will begin assembly of the Fiesta subcompact in 2010, while the Louisville assembly plant will start production of yet-to-be-named C-platform vehicles in 2011.
Ford Kuga
Tags: Ford, ford expedition, ford fiesta, ford kuga, lincoln navigator, michigan truck
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