Ford Begins Construction on $700-Million Rouge Center Expansion to Add Electric F-150 Production Line

Company says new manufacturing facility will add 300 production jobs

It's electric! This 500,000 sq ft manufacturing facility at Ford's Rouge Center campus in Dearborn, Mich., is planned to build electric Ford F-150 pickup trucks. Rendering courtesy of Ford Motor Co.

A 500,000-sq-ft hybrid electric F-150 truck manufacturing facility is being built at Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge Center in Dearborn, Mich. Once it's completed in summer 2021, the $700-million production facility is expected to add 300 jobs and produce Ford's F-150 PowerBoost hybrid truck.

“We are proud to once again build and innovate for the future here at the Rouge with the debut of our all-new F-150 and the construction of a modern new manufacturing center to build the first-ever, all-electric F-150,” said Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Co. “This year’s COVID-19 crisis made it clear why it is so important for companies like Ford to help keep our U.S. manufacturing base strong and help our country get back to work.”

Ford executives said at a Sept. 17 event announcing the expansion they expect trucks to be produced at the 100-year-old Rouge Center late next year.

"We will use the current [Rouge Center] body and paint shop" in collaboration with the new building, said Gary Johnson, Ford's chief manufacturing and labor affairs officer, speaking at the event. "The building—it's going up. The expectation is we'll have the building completed sometime next summer. We'll start doing our early prototype builds as part of our launch plans. So, more to come. The steel is up."

Contractor Devon Industrial Group of Detroit began construction recently at the Rouge Center based on a design by architect-engineer DiClemente Siegel Design from Burton, Mich.

ENR Midwest Editor and Associate Technology Editor Jeff Yoders has been writing about design and construction innovations for 16 years. He is a two-time Jesse H. Neal award winner and multiple ASBPE winner for his tech coverage. Jeff previously launched Building Design + Construction's building information modeling blog and wrote a geographic information systems column at CE News. He also wrote about materials prices, construction procurement and estimation for MetalMiner.com. He lives in Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, where the pace of innovation never leaves him without a story to chase.

Post a comment to this article

60% of workers are exposed to heights greater than 5 ft daily, and workers' compensation from injury is more than $7B - it's time for construction leaders to take measures to reduce risk and create a safer work environment. We'll explore how technology can improve construction site safety and help prevent accidents before they happen.