Ford Announces Expansion Plans, To Invest $773 Million in 2013 To Revamp Manufacturing Facilities (F, GM)

Car maker, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) announced on Thursday that it will be spending about $773 million for revamping manufacturing facilities in 6 southeast Michigan plants in 2013 as the company looks to launch next generation of products.

The Dearborn-based automaker said that it will be modernizing its Dearborn stamping plant with four new press lines for its next-generation F-series truck, slated to be released in 2014. The company will also improve its capacity-constrained Michigan plant in order to enhance the production capacity for smaller cars.

Moreover, Ford said that it will make major investments at Livonia Transmission Plant ($74 million), Sterling Axle Plant ($85 million) and Van Dyke Transmission Plant ($87 million) and Flat Rock assembly ($161 million).

The upgrades at Flat Rock Assembly will create 1,200 new jobs, according to Ford. The Company said that it will begin hiring for new positions at its Flat Rock Assembly from second quarter of 2013.

These investments form part of Company’s bigger plan to invest $6.2 billion and add 12,000 new jobs by the fiscal 2015.

Commenting over series of investments, Jim Tetreault, Ford vice president of North America manufacturing, said “Even as we wrap up an incredibly busy year of capacity expansions and product launches, we are continuing to look to the future.”

“These investments, many of which are already under way, will ensure our southeast Michigan manufacturing facilities can support our aggressive growth plans,” added Tetreault.

For Ford, overhauling facilities in order to increase plants’ efficiency is a need of the hour as it finds itself constrained due to lack of space. For instance, Ford’s North American plants are running at 114 percent capacity—just like its rivals General Motor Co. (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler Group LLC, whose plants are running at over 100 percent capacity.

Ford has set aside $335 million for revamping Dearborn Stamping Plant. Plant upgrade will allow the company to reduce the weight of F-150, which is required by federal fuel economy standards.