Ford will add 1,200 jobs at Claycomo plant for its new Transit van

Ford Motor Co. has hired 1,200 new workers and will start a second shift at its Claycomo assembly plant in November to support strong orders for its new Transit van.

The automaker formally announced the job additions at a 9:30 a.m. event at Ford’s stamping facility, which makes metal body parts for the Transit commercial van. With the hiring, the Claycomo plant will employ more than 6,000 workers by the end of this year.

Ford’s popular F-150 trucks already are being produced in three shifts around the clock at the assembly plant.

The added Transit shift writes another chapter in the plant’s turnaround story. The recession had knocked production of its mainstay F-150 trucks down to one shift. Ford also moved production of its Escape SUV to a Kentucky plant, with no immediate declaration of a new product for Claycomo.

But now, when the new workers go on duty, the Kansas City plant will make more vehicles each year than any other Ford plant in the world, Ford spokeswoman Kristina Adamski said. It has the capacity to turn out half a million vehicles a year.

Ford invested $1.1 billion in the plant’s expansion in 2011 after it received an incentive package from the state of Missouri. That included retooling the production lines, adding the stamping facility and new paint shop.

The company worked with the state to hire the new workers, who will start at $15.78 an hour.

Based on UAW contract negotiations, the new workers will be eligible for raises of about a dollar a year, up to a cap of $19.28 an hour, Adamski said.

The Transit, which arrived at dealerships in June, received its first large fleet order last month for 800 vans from Charter Communications. The company said it sold 1,100 Transits in August. Autodata Corp. put total Transit sales at 2,085 through August.

The 1,200 new jobs in Kansas City are on top of 2,800 added at the plant in 2012 and 2013. The expansions helped meet a national Ford commitment to the United Auto Workers to create 12,000 U.S. jobs by the end of 2015; 14,000 have been added to date.

“The job growth we have created in U.S. manufacturing is a testament to our strong partnership with the UAW, the union’s competitiveness, and the growing demand for Ford’s portfolio of cars, utilities and trucks,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford president for the Americas, said in prepared remarks.

Jimmy Settles, a UAW vice president, said in prepared remarks that the expansions announced for Kansas City “strengthen this community and continue our efforts to grow good-paying, middle-class manufacturing jobs.”

The Kansas City plant produces Ford’s Transit van at the rate of about 300 a day. It began production April 30 with 900 workers on one shift, intending to add the second shift this year.

The plant also produces the F-150 Regular Cab, SuperCab and SuperCrew pickups and will support a new F-150 that’s due to debut in early 2015.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said in prepared remarks that the Kansas City plant’s growth “is proof positive that Missouri workers can compete with anyone in the world and further cements Missouri’s position as a leader in next-generation automotive manufacturing.”

The new Transit follows the Ford E-Series, which had been the top-selling commercial van in the United States for 35 years. The E-Series followed the Ford Econoline in production.

Transit already is the best-selling commercial van in the United Kingdom and is sold on six continents. It has a higher roof and holds more cargo volume than the largest E-Series van and offers better fuel economy, the company said.

The Kansas City area’s other automaker, General Motors, also has made major investments in its plant. It has committed $600 million for a new paint shop and other upgrades at its Fairfax plant in Kansas City, Kan., where it employs about 3,900 making the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse.

This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Ford will add 1,200 jobs at Claycomo plant for its new Transit van."