Flat Rock Assembly Plant, formerly known as the Michigan Casting Center (1972–1981), Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA (1987–1992) and AutoAlliance International (1992–2012), is a Ford Motor Company assembly plant located at 1 International Drive in Flat Rock, Michigan in Metro Detroit.
| Flat Rock Assembly Plant | |
|---|---|
 The plant in 2010 | |
 | |
| Former names |
|
| General information | |
| Classification | Factory |
| Address | 1 International Drive |
| Town or city | Flat Rock, Michigan |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 42°06′25″N 83°14′52″W / 42.10694°N 83.24778°W |
| Opened | January 1972 |
| Owner | Ford Motor Company |
The plant currently comprises 2,900,000 square feet (270,000 m2) of production space and employs 3,510 hourly workers and 140 salaried workers. The plant currently manufactures the Ford Mustang.
History
editMichigan Casting Center (1972–1981)
editFollowing three years of work and the largest single investment by Ford, the Michigan Casting Center (MCC) opened in January 1972, at the time one of the most technologically advanced casting facilities in the world.[1] Despite the sizable capital investment, frequent union labor problems and work injuries[2] and declining demand for the V8 engine blocks produced there led the facility's closure in 1981.[3][4]
A worker, Robert Williams, was killed by an industrial robot arm on January 25, 1979. He is the first known human to be killed by a robot.[5]
Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA (1987–1992)
editMazda Motor Corporation started construction of a new building on the site of the Michigan Casting Center in 1985 and cars started production at Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA in September 1987 with the Mazda MX-6 and Ford Probe coupes.[6] In 1991 the plant had 3,600 employees, including 250 Japanese employees.[7]
AutoAlliance International (1992–2012)
editFord repurchased a 50% share in the plant on April 15, 1992, and it officially became a joint-venture and was renamed AutoAlliance International on July 1, 1992.[8] The plant began production of all models of the Mazda 626 sold in America starting in 1993. During this era, Deepak Ahuja was Chief Financial Officer of the joint venture.[9] The Ford Contour-derived Mercury Cougar was produced at the plant from 1998 to 2002. Production of North American Mazda 6 began in the 2003 model year, followed by the Ford Mustang starting in 2005.
The last Mazda 6 rolled off the line on Friday, August 24, 2012, with Mazda discontinuing production on American soil, effectively ending the 20 year joint-venture between Mazda and Ford. Mazda moved production of the Mazda 6 back to the Hofu factory in Japan and opened a new factory in Salamanca, Mexico to build the Mazda 2 and Mazda 3 subcompact and compact cars.
Flat Rock Assembly Plant (since 2012)
editOn September 10, 2012, Ford Motor Company re-took full management control of the plant, renaming it the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant, and confirming $555 million in investments designed to retool the plant for the production of the 2013 Ford Fusion midsize sedan.[10]
On July 15, 2015, Ford confirmed that the new 2017 Lincoln Continental sedan would be produced at the Flat Rock plant starting in 2016.[11]
On January 3, 2017, Ford announced that it will begin manufacturing an electric small SUV by 2020, and a high passenger volume autonomous vehicle designed for commercial ride hailing or ride sharing by 2021, both to be built at Flat Rock.[12]
Ford reduced production of the plant from two shifts to one due to lower demand for the Ford Mustang and especially the Lincoln Continental.[13] Over 1,000 workers were laid off in April 2019, including almost 500 temporary workers.[14][15]
In March 2019, Ford announced change of its plan, production of battery-electric vehicle would not start until 2023.[16]
Products
editCurrent
edit- Ford Mustang (2005–present)[17]
Past
edit- Lincoln Continental (2017–2020)[18]
- Ford Fusion (2013–2016)[10]
- Mazda 6 (2003–2012)[19]
- Mercury Cougar (1999–2002)
- Mazda 626 (1990–2002)
- Ford Probe (1989–1997)
- Mazda MX-6 (1988–1997)
References
edit- ^ "Ford Opens a Giant Casting Centre". Schenectady Gazette. January 20, 1972. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ^ "Detroit plant". Windsor Star. November 1, 1973. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ^ "Ford Will Close Unit in Flat Rock". New York Times. September 15, 1981. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ^ "Flat Rock Mayor Hopeful". The Argus-Press. December 3, 1984. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ^ "$10 Million Awarded To Family Of U.S. Plant Worker Killed By Robot". Ottawa Citizen. August 11, 1983. p. 14. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
- ^ Manji, James F. (June 1, 1988). "Building cars with Mazda quality. (Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA Corp.)". Automation. Penton Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ^ Cohen, Sharon. "Metamorphosis in Motown." Associated Press at The Ledger. Thursday December 26, 1991. p. 7C. Retrieved from Google News (95 of 121) on November 19, 2013.
- ^ "North American All-New Mazda6 Production Begins at AutoAlliance International". Mazda. July 23, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ^ Star, Leanne (November 11, 2011). "Alumni profile: Deepak Ahuja" (PDF). McCormick Magazine. No. Fall 2011. p. 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
- ^ a b "Ford Opens New Era at Flat Rock Assembly Plant, Source of 1,200 New Jobs and U.S. Production Home of All-New Fusion | Ford Motor Company Newsroom". Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
- ^ "Lincoln Continental to be made at Ford Flat Rock plant". July 15, 2015.
- ^ "Ford Adding Electrified F-150, Mustang, Transit by 2020 in Major EV Push; Expanded U.S. Plant to Add 700 Jobs to Make EVs, Autonomous Cars | Ford Media Center".
- ^ Willems, Steph (November 28, 2018). "Ford Cuts Factory Shifts, Comes Out Looking Like the Golden Child". The Truth About Cars. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ Howard, Phoebe Wall (February 5, 2019). "Flat Rock shift cut leaves more than 400 Ford workers in jeopardy". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ Laing, Keith (February 4, 2019). "Ford: Flat Rock workers to be offered job transfers". Detroit News. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ Thibodeau, Ian. "Ford Flat Rock plant shifts to electric vehicles, Mustang". Detroit News. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ Henkel, Karl (April 9, 2013). "Ford begins hiring 1,400 for Flat Rock plant". Detroit News. Retrieved April 11, 2013.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "New Lincoln Continental will be Michigan made". USA Today. July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- ^ Pope, Byron (September 10, 2012). "Ford Expects Fusion Output to Exceed Mazda6 at Flat Rock". Wards Auto. Archived from the original on September 2, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
Further reading
edit- Fucini, Joseph J. Working for the Japanese. Simon & Schuster, June 30, 2008. ISBN 1439106487, 9781439106488.
- The section starting at p. 101 discusses Japanese employees from Mazda working in the Flat Rock Assembly Plant along with Americans in the 1980s.