Ford Expanding Avon Lake Plant With 1,800 Jobs Amid Focus On Electric

AVON LAKE, OH — Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it will add thousands of new, unionized manufacturing jobs across Michigan, Ohio and Missouri — including 1,800 in Avon Lake — as the auto giant puts the pedal to the metal in its effort to make 2 million electric vehicles a year.

Leaders with United Auto Workers and Ford on Thursday announced plans to add more than 6,200 new manufacturing jobs across the Midwest, and convert nearly 3,000 temporary union workers to permanent full-timers, Ford said in a news release. All hourly employees will receive healthcare benefits on the first day of employment.

Ford said it is investing $3.7 billion, including $1.5 billion in Ohio that will lead to 1,800 union jobs at its Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, where workers will assemble the brand-new electric commercial vehicle starting around the middle of the decade. Ninety more jobs will be added at Lima Engine and Sharonville Transmission plants.

"You will see shovels in the ground later this, year," Ford Blue President Kumar Galhotra told a raucous crowd Thursday morning in Loraine County. "And you will be building an all-new commercial vehicle in the middle of the decade. Ohio Assembly has a bright future."

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The moves come ahead of planned contract negotiations next year, and are part of the company’s growth strategy, including plans for a new Mustang coupe and Ranger pickup in North America, as well as a new electric commercial vehicle.

Ohio has played a key role in Ford’s history for 70 years. Ford employs about 7,000 workers in the state. Ohio Assembly Plant already produces E-Series vans, medium duty trucks and Super Duty chassis cabs.

“The ingenuity and talent of Ohio’s automotive workforce is second to none, and Ford’s investment in Avon Lake will play an essential role in growing the EV space,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in a news release. “Ford has been a partner in Ohio for generations, and its confidence in the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant operations secures EV operations in Lorain County that will be critical for decades to come.”

Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford, said the company's investment deepens its commitment to building new electric vehicles.

"I am proud that we are investing in the Midwest and taking real action to provide better benefits and working conditions for our workers on the plant floor," he said.

Greg Zilka, the mayor of Avon Lake, called the news "wonderful."

"We are all fortunate for this major commitment by Ford to stay in Northern Ohio and grateful they should be here for many years to come,” Zilka said in a statement. “We have worked closely with Ford Motor Company over the years and Jobs Ohio worked hard to make it a reality. The United Auto Workers have also played a major role in working with Ford to help make it all happen."

The announcement means the number of employees at the Ohio plan will effectively double. Ford has not announced yet how much of the building expansion will be in each city. Estimates of how much income tax and property tax revenue from the expansion weren't immediately clear, but Ted Esborn, Avon Lake’s economic development director, said focusing solely on new tax revenue misses the much larger picture.

“Today’s announcement is first and foremost about the future of the Ohio Assembly Plant," Esborn said in a statement. "How many times in the last 40 years have Avon Lakers faced the threat of the plant’s closing? Any investment bodes well for the future of a plant, but this investment is special."

Esborn said that giving the Ohio Assembly Plant the ability to produce electric vehicles is cause to celebrate, and safeguards the plant's future.

"We will benefit from tax revenue, but that doesn’t come close to the benefit we will continue to receive from having Ohio Assembly Plant in our community as a significant source of jobs and an excellent corporate citizen," he said.