Ford is Investing $3.7 Billion and Adding Over 6,200 UAW Manufacturing Jobs in the Midwest to Produce New Vehicles

author: FutureCar Staff    

Ford Motor Co is ramping up its manufacturing and will hire thousands of new employees to reach its goal of building 2 million EV a year globally by the end of 2026 and adding new models to its lineup, including an all-new Mustang coupe.

On Thursday, representatives from Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced plans to add more than 6,200 new U.S. manufacturing jobs in the Midwest. The plans include converting nearly 3,000 temporary UAW-Ford workers to permanent full-time status at the automaker. In addition, all hourly employees will receive healthcare benefits on the first day of employment.

Ford's hiring spree is part of the company's Ford+ growth strategy and includes plans for an all-new Mustang and Ranger pickup for North America, as well as an all-new battery-powered commercial vehicle for Ford Pro customers. 

Ford is investing another $3.7 billion in its manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri to prepare them to produce the new vehicles. The new UAW-Ford manufacturing jobs are expected to create an estimated 74,000 additional indirect non-Ford jobs nationally.

"Ford is America's Number 1 employer of hourly autoworkers, and this investment only deepens our commitment to building great new vehicles – from an all-new Mustang to new EVs – right here in the U.S. in partnership with the UAW," said Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford. "I am proud that we are investing in the Midwest and taking real action to provide better benefits and working conditions for our workers on the plant floor."

In Michigan, Ford is making a $2 billion investment and creating nearly 2,000 new jobs in three assembly plants in the state to increase production of the all-new F-150 Lightning to 150,000 per year at Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn to meet growing demand for the electric pickup. 

Since 2016, Ford has invested nearly $10 billion in its home state of Michigan, which supports around 10,000 jobs. Ford's investments include refurbishing Detroit's iconic Michigan Central Station, developing a new Ford Research and Engineering campus in Dearborn, creating Ford's Ion Park.

"We are thrilled that Ford is advancing its long legacy in Michigan by investing $2 billion to create 3,200 good-paying UAW jobs," said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "I am proud that we came together to deliver economic development legislation that has helped us land huge projects creating thousands of jobs."

Ford will also produce an all-new Ranger pickup at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, while the all-new Mustang coupe will be built at Ford's Flat Rock Assembly Plant. 

Ford is investing $1.5 billion and adding 1,800 union jobs at its Ohio Assembly Plant to assemble an all-new EV commercial vehicle starting mid-decade, along with an additional 90 UAW jobs and $100 million investment in its Lima Engine and Sharonville Transmission plants.

The Ohio plant currently produces E-Series vans, medium duty trucks and Super Duty chassis cabs. Ford has 7,000 employees in Ohio.

In Missouri, Ford is making a $95 million investment and 1,100 union jobs for a third shift at Kansas City Assembly Plant to increase production of the Transit, which has become the best-selling commercial van in the U.S. The Missouri plant will also produce the all-new E-Transit electric van.

These actions follow the automaker's Ford+ plan announced last year to transform its global automotive business, accelerating the development of electric and connected vehicles and taking full advantage of its engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

The UAW and Ford broke with convention by not waiting until formal UAW contract negotiations to announce the new jobs, new vehicles, plant investments and workplace improvements.

The current UAW contract with Ford expires in 2023.

"We're investing in American jobs and our employees to build a new generation of incredible Ford vehicles and continue our Ford+ transformation," said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. "Transforming our company for the next era of American manufacturing requires new ways of working, and together with UAW leadership, we are leading the way and moving fast to make improvements to benefits for our hourly employees and working conditions for our factory teams."

Ford also plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years to continuously improve the workplace experience for its manufacturing employees. Working with the UAW, Ford is addressing the top wants and needs of employees.

Among the new perks is potentially better access to healthy food, new EV chargers in plant parking lots so employees can plug in their vehicles while at work, along with other upgrades such as better lighting in parking lots. 

Ford said the improvements will differ by plant. The automaker also says that these steps are only the first phase of workplace changes, more improvements will come in order to make working at the automaker a better experiance for UAW members.

"In many ways, Ford is America's automaker and our relationship with the UAW is essential to our success," said Kumar Galhotra, president, Ford Blue. "Our frontline manufacturing employees are the key to delivering what our customers want more of – amazing new electric vehicles like the F-150 Lightning as well as must-have internal combustion-powered vehicles like the forthcoming all-new Mustang coupe."  

The investments by Ford also include $35 million to build an all-new Ford Customer Service Division packaging facility in Monroe to help accelerate parts shipments for Ford customers.

The updated plans come as Ford posts record electric vehicle sales for the month of May. Ford battery electric vehicle sales totaled 6,254 for the month, led by the F-150 Lightning. The automaker says its EV sales grew almost 4 times faster than the overall U.S. electric vehicle segment last month.

Ford's total sales for the month of May were 154,461 vehicles. The total includes 74,595 trucks and 76,625 SUVs.

FutureCar Staff