Ford Flexes Muscle In Norfolk, Kansas City

Two F-Series assembly plants will be the first in Ford Motor Co. to be retooled for flexible manufacturing, the auto maker's president and chief operating officer tells WAW.

“We haven't publicized it yet,” Nick Scheele says in an exclusive interview. “The first (plants) that we shall bring up with flex manufacturing will be, in fact, Norfolk (VA) and Kansas City (MO). Then we'll bring up Rouge (Dearborn), then Chicago and then we'll move on out from there.”

Ford has said four plants would have multi-platform production capability within 18 months, but the auto maker had not confirmed which plants they would be.

Ford's goal is to have flex-manufacturing capacity in half its North American assembly plants by mid-decade. Has Ford identified the other sites it wants to retool?

“We know where we want to go,” Scheele says, reiterating the company's position that it doesn't need flex capability in all its plants.

“You don't need to do it across the board. What you need to do is do it in sufficient places that you'll have the flex to respond to the variability and customer demand in the field.”