Ford adding 300 new jobs at upgraded engine facility

Ford's Americas president Joe Hinrichs says as March sales improve, they will be adding 300 jobs and upgrading their Ohio facility to produce a new V6 engine.

Hinrichs announced that Ford will be updating their Ohio engine plant with new equipment and 300 jobs in order to produce a new 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engine for the 2015 Ford F-150 pick-up truck. Ford already offers four engines for the truck, but Hinrichs says since they took out 700 lbs from the aluminum body in the new F-150 model, this is the chance to make a more fuel-efficient engine.

"We have the opportunity to downsize our engines even further and get more fuel efficiency for our customers while delivering great capability," Hinrichs says.

The $500 million investment will not be expanding the size of the plant but adding a new assembly area. The 300 jobs that the investment will add will come from a combination of hires from other parts of the company and new local hires. There are about 900 people currently working at the plant, and the extra 300 will be added between now and the fourth quarter when they launch the new engine.

According to Hinrichs, even though the auto industry took a hit like many other businesses due to the unusually harsh winter, he expects March sales to jump for the spring selling season.

"March is going to be good month," he says. "January and February were certainly slowed down by the overall weather we saw in many parts of the country and even early in March we had a number of other places hit by weather. March is going to be a strong month for the industry."

[The Street]