Ford to bring 635 additional supplier jobs to own plants

Ford said today that it plans to bring 1,975 jobs in-house to its plants across the U.S. instead of at plants operated by suppliers that in some cases are in Mexico and Japan.

“We’re bringing jobs home to America,” Mark Fields, president of the Americas, said today during the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City.

By insourcing the work, Ford said it will exceed commitments it previously made to the UAW to do by 25%.

Already, Ford said it has brought 1,340 jobs normally done by suppliers into 24 U.S. plants. With its announcement today, Ford said it plans to bring another 635 to nine Ford plants in the U.S. by 2012.

Could there be more? "We’ll look at it,” Fields said.

Fields said that bringing the work inside its own plants made financial sense because of the UAW’s willingness to collaborate and reach competitive labor agreements.

“The UAW has …helped us create the business case for moving more work back to Ford facilities, and back to America,” Fields said.

The jobs include work at three plants in Michigan. They are:

• Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne for moon roof sub-assembly, instrument panel assembly and part kitting for engine, doors and interior trim. Ford is spending $550 million to retool that plant to build the company’s new Ford Focus, which will arrive in dealerships early next year.

• Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights for production of the automatic transmissions and electric drive transaxles. That work is currently performed by a supplier in Japan.

• Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti for battery-pack assembly for hybrid-electric vehicles. That work is currently performed by a supplier in Mexico.

Ford, along with all automakers, reached a landmark labor agreement with the UAW in 2007 and modified the contract in 2009.

However, Ford did not get all of the concessions last year that its domestic rivals, General Motors and Chrysler, won as they restructured through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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