Hundreds Of Ford Employees Sent To Build More F-150 Lightning Trucks

Ford has confirmed plans to transfer 800 factory employees from its Dearborn Truck Plant to the nearby Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in the coming months in order to build moreF-150 Lightningpickup trucks. Per theDetroit Free Press, demand for the all-electric truck remains high so the Blue Oval has decided it needs the extra manpower in addition to the 300 new hourly employees that'll soon be hired for the Rouge facility. The era of the BEV truck is in full swing.

"With the new staffing plan, Ford will have about 1,800 employees building the F-150 Lightning on three crews. At the same time, we'll build gas-powered F-150s with 2,600 employees on two shifts at Dearborn Truck Plant and 2,800 people on three crews at the Kansas City Assembly Plant," a Ford spokesperson said. "This will give Ford maximum overall production and flexibility to meet high demand for America's best-selling truck, gas and electric."

Last month, Ford announced plans toincrease production output for several of its vehicles, including the Lightning. The goal is to build 150,000 units annually beginning this fall. But before that happens, the Rouge plant will be shut down for six weeks this summer as part of a general expansion.

This comes at a time when it appears Ford has fixed some early build quality Lightning issues, specifically with the battery.Ford restarted production early last monthfollowing a roughly one-month halt due to battery fire concerns. The battery supplier, SK On, had to work overtime to find and resolve the problem.

With production now back into gear, Ford will have everything in place once the Lightning factory expansion is completed.