Ford has announced plans to invest USD773m at six manufacturing sites in Michigan (US). In a statement, the automaker revealed that the cash will be spent on new equipment and to help expand capacity at the plants. Among the sites that will benefit include Dearborn Stamping Plant, which will see an investment of USD305m for modernisation with new pressing lines, scrap conveyor system and other machinery and equipment. Michigan Assembly Plant will also receive USD59.4m to expand its stamping press line. A further USD87.7m will be spent at its Van Dyke Transmission facility for machinery and equipment to meet demand for the automaker's 6F35 and 6F50 transmissions. Other component manufacturing sites to benefit will also include its Sterling Axle Plant which will see USD86m spent on it for machinery and equipment to meet axle demand and future model changes, as well as USD74.7m at its Livonia Transmission plant on machinery and equipment for transmission production expansion and test equipment. There will also be investment in to vehicle production with its Flat Rock Assembly unit having USD161m spent on machinery and equipment to assemble the new Ford Fusion.
Significance: According to Ford, the investment will come as part of a commitment to invest USD6.2bn in its US plants by 2015, and some of these investments have already begun taking place. The investments are expected to not only benefit production of the Ford Fusion, but also its F-Series pick-up truck and new "fuel efficient vehicles". The investments are expected to lift its headcount in the area with the creation of 2,350 new hourly paid jobs, and will also allow the automaker to retain some 3,240 current hourly paid jobs. The jobs created will be part of an overall 12,000 hourly paid positions that it is planning to add across the US by 2015. The move underlines the already substantial recovery that the automaker has seen during the past three years in North America, leading it to a record-breaking financial performance in this region.
