Production operations ended today at 1:30 p.m. at Ford Motor Company’s Michigan Truck Plant as the last vehicle rolled off the assembly line. The move signals the beginning of the transformation of Michigan Truck Plant to be retooled as car plant to begin producing small, fuel-efficient vehicles in 2010.

“Ford is committed to delivering a balanced product lineup for our consumers,” said Joe Hinrichs, group vice president, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs. “The conversion of Michigan Truck Plant represents another step in our transformation plan to meet market demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.”

Michigan Truck Plant opened in 1957 as the Wayne Station Wagon Plant. During its more than 50 years of operation, it has produced F-Series trucks, the Ford Bronco, Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.

Production of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator will be moved to the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky., with production of the large SUVs slated to begin in the second quarter of 2009.

About 1,200 employees were on hand to pay tribute to the plant’s legacy.

“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.”

The heart of Ford’s manufacturing transformation is based on flexible operations, using reprogrammable tooling in body shops, standardized equipment in paint shops and a common-build sequence in final assembly, enabling production of multiple models in one plant.

In 2005, Ford invested $300 million in Michigan Truck to build a new, flexible body shop. That investment will help streamline the conversion to small vehicle production. Ford will make an additional body shop investment of approximately $75 million. This is part of a larger investment planned for the plant. Meanwhile, Ford continues to work with state and local governments on the scope of incentive support.

Michigan Truck is one of three truck and SUV plants in North America that will be converted to build small fuel-efficient compact and subcompact vehicles. The conversion of Cuautitlan (Mexico) Assembly, which currently produces F-Series pickups, is underway to prepare for production of the new Fiesta subcompact car in 2010. Louisville Assembly, home of the Ford Explorer mid-size SUV, is slated to start production of yet more unique small vehicles from the automakers global C-car platform the following year.

Michigan Truck Plant Facts:
Location: Wayne, Michigan
Number of Employees: 1,200
Year Opened: 1957
Plant Size (Sq. Ft.): 2,866,000
Current Products: Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator (more than 2.3 million built)
Future Products: Small vehicles based on Ford’s global C-car platform

Source: Ford