Ford moves production of medium-duty trucks from Mexico to Ohio

“Working with our partners in the UAW, we found a way to make the costs competitive enough to bring production of a whole new generation of work trucks to Ohio”. The Dearborn-based automaker replaced the vans with Ford Transit vans, which are made at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri.

The 41-year-old plant has been shifted in Avon Park, Ohio, which means that almost 1,000 workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union will keep their jobs, said Jimmy Settles, UAW vice president.

The company said it is starting production of new Ford F-650/F-750 trucks on Wednesday at its Ohio Assembly Plant.

Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Motor’s (F) The Americas, was to be in Avon Lake, Ohio, for the production launch of the new 2016 Ford F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks which had been built in Mexico in a joint venture plant with Navistar.

Right now, Ford is continuing negotiation talks with the representatives of UAW to reach a new national contract that will affect close to 52,300 workers.

The restyled-for-2016 trucks will be available in Regular Cab, SuperCab and Crew Can body styles and in straight-frame, dock-height and an all-new dedicated tractor model for heavy towing uses. Notably, the 6.8-liter engine can be factory-prepped for converting to compressed natural gas or liquid propane gas. “Strengthening the economy through job creation continues our efforts to rebuild the American middle-class and communities all across this nation”.

The Avon Lake assembly plant was originally opened in 1974, and employs 1,400 hourly workers, and has more than 19 conveyor miles of assembly line, and covers 3.7 million square feet on a total site area of 419 acres. It also makes the E-Series cutaway vans and stripped chassis.

The 2016 F-650 and F-750, originally revealed in March of last year at the NTEA Work Truck Show, will serve the role of being the lynchpin in Ford’s commercial vehicle lineup.