Ford Is Building Its First New Auto Plant in 53 Years.
Change is certainly coming to Stanton, about 45 miles northeast of Memphis. Ford and South Korea’s SK broke ground in September on the sprawling, six-square mile manufacturing complex that is due to begin building electric F-Series pickup trucks and the batteries that power them in three years. Known as BlueOval City, the $5.6 billion
compound will eventually teem with nearly 6,000 workers and sp-t out about 350,000 plug-in trucks per year from Ford’s first all-new automotive assembly plant in more than a half century.
BlueOval City is a linchpin in Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley’s $50 billion plan to build 2 million battery-powered automobiles a year by the end of 2026, up from about 63,000 last year. Ford’s push to take on Tesla Inc., which now controls almost three-quarters of the EV market, relies on the factory’s success. But the project has rattled Michigan officials who fear that Ford’s center of gravity is shifting south.
Rural Tennessee offered Ford plentiful land, potentially lower labor costs than the Michigan and $2.4 billion in state government incentives, equal to about $414,000 for each job at BlueOval City. The company also plans two SK battery plants in Kentucky and a research center in Atlanta. Ford’s shift South also unnerves union officials.
The United Auto Workers has no guarantee it will represent BlueOval City’s employees, who must vote to accept the union. Auto workers in Tennessee, a right-to-work state, have already rejected organizing drives by the UAW at Nissan Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG factories. “UAW members are rightly concerned that automakers will take advantage of the EV transition to de-unionize,” UAW Vice President. “More and more automakers and manufacturers have also been funneling investment to the South, where corporations and politicians have staunchly opposed union rights for workers.”
- End of article ---
So moving the so called "future" of the company to the southern states, while selling 25 FMC buildings in MI. Is the Ford family throwing the towel at recovering Detroit's downtown too?
At the same time outsourcing the white collar jobs to Mexico, India, Brazil and other "low cost regions", reducing the need for all those Dearborn sites. Are they planning to leave 1 American Rd as the Global Headquarters or will they move it south too? After all, "bosses" should be where the "action" is, to supervise it all.
Probably the company is trying to get rid of the UAW leaches too with this move. UAW inefficiencies are costing FMC a lot of money, from recalls to a higher average active hourly labor cost (around $11 per hour more than other vehicle manufacturers).