Ford is currently facing a bit of a crisis after one of its largest suppliers of aluminum - Novelis - experienced a devastating fire at one of its facilities in New York, which will take months to get back online. The Blue Oval has been working with that supplier and others to try and mitigate the impacts, but has also paused production of several models as of late. That includes the mega-popular Ford F-150, but The Blue Oval is already planning to ramp things up in a big way next year to compensate for these cuts.
Ford has announced that it will significantly increase both F-150 production at the Dearborn Truck plant and Super Duty output at the Kentucky Truck plant in 2026 to not only aid in efforts recover from these substantial production losses, but also, to meet ever-growing demand for those pickups. It's aiming to boost total F-Series production volume by over 50,000 trucks next year, in fact, with that ramp up set to begin in Q1.
The Dearborn Truck plant is aiming to build 45,000 additional F-150 pickups next year, a boost made possible by the addition of a third shift comprised of 1,200 more workers - along with 90 new employee additions at the Dearborn Stamping plant and 80 more workers set to be placed at the Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing plant to support this increase.
With Ford F-150 Lightning production currently on pause, all of the workers at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center will move next door to join the new third crew, with the rest coming from other facilities in the Ford Southeastern Michigan manufacturing footprint - along with some new hires.
As for Super Duty production at the Kentucky Truck plant, Ford is looking to add around 5,000 units per year with 100 additional employees, coupled with a $60 million dollar investment in line speed increases and employee training.
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