(Louisville, Kentucky)/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) says it has completed a $200 million investment in the retooling of its Kentucky Truck Plant for production of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.
The retooling includes the installation of a flexible body shop that will allow the plant to produce more fuel efficient 2009 model Expedition and Navigator SUVs alongside popular Ford F-Series Super Duty pickups. The Kentucky Truck Plant makeover is part of a move by Ford toward leaner and more flexible manufacturing across its North American plant lineup.
Moving production of the Expedition and Navigator to Kentucky Truck Plant paves the way for the conversion of the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, which is currently being retooled to begin production in 2010 of the next-generation Ford Focus, one of several new fuel-efficient global small cars coming from Ford in the next few years.
"We are moving very quickly to transform our manufacturing operations to allow us to respond to consumer demand," said Jim Tetreault, Ford vice president, North America Manufacturing. "We were able to swiftly retool Kentucky Truck with a flexible body shop, which sets the stage for the transformation of Michigan Assembly Plant."
The new flexible body shop came to Kentucky Truck from a closed Ford assembly plant in Norfolk, with additional components brought in from Michigan Assembly.
"The changeover took us about seven weeks," said Joseph Bobnar, Kentucky Truck plant manager. "In terms of retooling and bringing in new equipment, we had a very aggressive schedule to follow. This is the way we do business now; we're faster and more efficient."
An incentives package passed by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority helped Ford make the $200 million investment needed to retool Kentucky Truck. (see http://www.mfrtech.com/articles/1474.html)
Approximately 450 Ford employees recently transferred to Kentucky Truck, bringing the number of total employees to roughly 4,000. The added employees transferred primarily from the Louisville Assembly Plant and the former Michigan Truck Plant.
Ford Motor Company, based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 213,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's wholly owned brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.
For more information about Ford visit http://www.ford.com/
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