Ford announced it is about to add 6,200 new factory jobs in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. Then new jobs will be part of a $3.7 billion investment in the three states between now and 2026. It will also convert about 3,000 temporary workers to full-time status with pay raises and benefits, as it amps up production coming out of the pandemic. It says it has plans to increase EV production, as well as roll out two redesigned combustion-engine models.
Plans include an expansion of a factory in Avon Lake, Ohio which will include 1800 new workers assigned to build an unidentified commercial EV, plus 90 more jobs added in Lima and Sharonville, Ohio.
In Claycomo Missouri, 1,000 new workers will be brought on board to handle increased production of large electric and combustion-engine transit vans.
2,000 more jobs will be added at three assembly plants in Michigan, as well as 1,200 at other facilities.
More investment will be made in a Ranger mid-size pickup factory in the Detroit suburb of Wayne. A plant in Flat Rock will be adapted to turn out a new version of the Mustang, and the Dearborn F-150 Lightening electric pickup plant will get additional investment to meet unexpectedly high demand. Various component parts and packaging facilities in Michigan will also get about 600 new jobs.
Ford’s ultimate plan for all the investment is to make 2 million EVs per day by 2026.
Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue noted Ford underestimated the demand for electric vehicles. He said of the electric F-150, “The reservations were so much higher than the (production) capacity that we had put in. This is the first time in my career that we were expanding the plant before the plant was built.”
Ford F-150 Lightening reservations hit 200,000, before the company stopped taking new reservations, and set about converting the existing reservations to orders. Ford estimates it is about two thirds through converting the reservations. Similarly, the Mustang Mach-E SUV and the E-Transit vans sold out for the year already.
Although EVs are easier to produce and require less manufacturing workers, experts say it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be layoffs in the future. Many automakers have taken to producing their own EV parts to bypass supply chain disruptions, and workers are being reassigned to that.
Kristin Dziczek, a policy adviser with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who follows the industry, thinks it is difficult to predict the effects of the switch to EV on employment, saying, “There are so many moving pieces. It’s hard to say what the employment level needs to be.”
Ohio offered $200 million in incentives to Ford, while Michigan is offering about $150 million.
Ford has already begun converting temporary workers to full-time, and has begun hiring new workers.
Analysts believe it likely Ford will build a fourth battery factory in the Great Lakes region, possibly teaming up with SK Innovation of South Korea, but as of yet there is no announcement.
Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue noted, “We’ll have more announcements to come.”
