Ford Motor's (F) latest investment of $700 million in Kentucky will to allow the automaker to build a bulked up version of its gas-powered F-Series Super Duty pickup.
The investment announced on Sept. 27 includes the hiring of 500 hourly manufacturing employees in Louisville. Ford currently has over 12,000 employees in Kentucky.
The truck plant also manufactures the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator in Louisville, Kentucky, while the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair are built at the nearby Louisville assembly plant.
The redeisigned 2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks include lots of technology upgrades. The company said it will be "the first pickup in the U.S. with embedded 5G capability, enabling faster mapping, Wi-Fi and Ford Power-Up software updates while driving."
The move to expand its highly profitable gas-powered truck manufacturing comes at the same time Ford is spending massively to expand its electric vehicle output.
The automaker is building a new 1,500-acre battery manufacturing facility in a joint venture with SK On in Glendale, Kentucky that will cost $5.8 billion called the BlueOval SK Battery Park. The batteries will be used for its EV Ford and Lincoln models and the companies have estimated they will need to hire 5,000 employees.
BlueOvalSK Battery Park will produce a total of 86 gigawatt hours of capacity annually.
“This is our moment – our biggest investment ever – to help build a better future for America,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley in a statement. “We are moving now to deliver breakthrough electric vehicles for the many rather than the few. It’s about creating good jobs that support American families, an ultra-efficient, carbon-neutral manufacturing system, and a growing business that delivers value for communities, dealers and shareholders.”
In addition to the battery facility, Ford is investing an additional $5.6 billion to build a campus near Stanton, Tennessee to manufacture EVs and create 6,000 jobs.
Supply Chain Issues Persist
Automakers are still facing a backlog of semiconductor chips and other parts as suppliers continue to increase prices.
"The supply shortages will result in a higher-than-planned number of 'vehicles on wheels' built but remaining in Ford's inventory awaiting needed parts, at the end of the third quarter," Ford said in a regulatory filing.
Inventory levels for many parts remain limited for the the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker. Ford has said it has between 40,000 and 45,000 unfinished vehicles because certain parts are missing.
The promise to dealers was that they would be delivered by the end of September. But Ford said the deadline has been extended to completing the assembly of these vehicles before the end of the year.
Other auto manufacturers are also facing shortages. General Motors (GM) warned in July that it had an inventory of 95,000 unfinished vehicles because of the lack of components.
"Supply chain challenges may not be in the news as prominently as they were last spring, but it remains the single biggest problem facing manufacturers in every industry," said James Sampson, partner at Black Horse Consulting & Advisory in a post on LinkedIn.
