Building an auto assembly plant is an incredibly complex job. It becomes more complex when you're going to build a vehicle unlike anything your company has ever made.
Then, you throw in a pandemic.
"There were days that, we questioned, what is COVID really going to do," said Kim Leonard, construction manager of what will become the Dearborn Electric Vehicle Center. Next year, the first electric F-150 pickup will roll off an assembly line in this plant.
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The Dearborn Electric Vehicle Center is in Ford's historic Rouge Complex. It's a $500 million project. The building sits next door to the Dearborn Truck Plant, and is actually on the site once occupied by the Dearborn Assembly Plant.
The building is now finished, in about a year--including a couple of months of COVID related shutdowns, followed by new safety protocols, including masks and distancing. That's not easy on a construction site, with much of the work being done in summer heat.
"A lot of hardships that we've never had to face before," said Leonard.
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The next step will be instillation of the equipment. One of the first thing you notice in this building is the smooth, shiny floor. That's intentional, because the facility will not have your typical assembly line, with "skillets" moving the vehicle from station to station as parts are added.
It will be the first in the country to use something called an Automatic Guided Carrier.
"It's a robotic carrier that is programmed to go to the next station," says Rob Williams, the Plant Operations Manager. "There is nothing in the floor. It's all wifi guided."
Rob Williams and Plant Manager Corey Williams--no relation--were our tour guides, showing us the one area where bodies will be carried above ground, and a deep pit that allows access to the vehicles from below.
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In many ways the assembly line is similar to the Dearborn Truck Plant next door, which Corey Williams also manages, that builds the conventional F-150. They've added updates that weren't available twenty years ago during the construction of Dearborn Truck. Adjustments have also been made for the electric nature of the F-150.
"We've used technology now to take us to the next level," he said. "Just like this building is. Just like the electric F-150."
The electric version of the F-150 has not yet been shown to the public. Ford has promised that it will have more capability than the gasoline version that's now on the market.
"I worked at the Dearborn Assembly Plant. I was skilled trades back then," says Production Operations Manager Liza Currie. "To see that building torn down...to see this brand new building go up, and be involved in this project, and the lead for the production teams, is phenomenal."
The first pre-production vehicles could roll off the line later this year. Production of the electric F-150 will begin some time next year. The plant will employ 500 workers, who will be specifically trained to build this new vehicle.
"There's a lot of pride. There's a lot of generational history here," says Corey Williams. "We want to be the best. We'll continue to be the best."
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