Ford’s 2 billion factory overhaul | The Verge
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Ford’s 2 billion factory overhaul
The new electric truck will go into production at Ford’s Louisville factory in the first quarter of 2027.
The new electric truck will go into production at Ford’s Louisville factory in the first quarter of 2027.
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Ford said today that its next-generation electric vehicle — recently dubbed Fathom — will go into production at the automaker’s recently overhauled Louisville Assembly Plant in the first quarter of 2027.
The first Fathoms will be prototypes, with Ford’s team in Louisville already in the production-level pre-tooling phase at the recently converted facility. Factory workers are working alongside team’s at Ford’s New Model Product Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan, hand-building the Fathom prototypes — and the same operators who helped design the high-stakes EV will also be involved in its production.
The factory is over 70 years old, so Ford had a lot of equipment to get rid of before it could begin the process of converting into an EV plant. Over several weeks, crews physically unbolted and hauled out heavy machinery, dragging thousands of tons of steel out the door. By February, only an empty shell remained.
The Fathom, a $28,000 electric pickup truck, will be the first vehicle on Ford’s new Universal Electric Vehicle Platform, an innovative new system designed to maximize aerodynamic range while also reducing production costs so Ford can make a profitable vehicle. For over a year, the company has been hyping it as its “Model T moment” that will revolutionize nearly everything at the 123-year-old company.
Ford said it converted the plant from one that makes gas cars, like the Escape and the Lincoln Corsair, to an EV only plant in just under a year. In total, Ford is spending $5 billion to create 4,000 new jobs at both the Louisville factory and its Blue Oval Battery Park in Michigan.
Even the production process will be totally different. Rather than one long conveyor, Ford is using a new assembly tree process that splits the vehicle into three sections — front clip, rear clip, and battery deck — which enables better access so more operators can work on the vehicle at the same time. Ford will use large unicasting to create the front and rear sections, replacing dozens of stamped and welded parts as it currently uses. Ford says it can speed up the production process by up to 15 percent by using the assembly tree.
To illustrate how much more efficient this new process will be, Ford cites this example:
One example of that efficiency in action is the software module flash station, a first for a Ford assembly plant, which ensures vehicles have the latest software prior to module installation. Previously, this software flash happened after the vehicle was built, and if issues were detected, updates took 10 minutes per vehicle. With private 5G in the plant, operators can perform quality tests like these as a vehicle rolls down the assembly tree
One example of that efficiency in action is the software module flash station, a first for a Ford assembly plant, which ensures vehicles have the latest software prior to module installation. Previously, this software flash happened after the vehicle was built, and if issues were detected, updates took 10 minutes per vehicle. With private 5G in the plant, operators can perform quality tests like these as a vehicle rolls down the assembly tree
Ford is banking on this new streamlined process, as well as its core competency of building a high-volume of vehicles, will make the Fathom’s retail price a reality. To be sure, Ford hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to EVs. The company lost over
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