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Ford Motor Company Begins Construction on $1.1 Billion Expansion in Missouri

Expansion will add 1,600 jobs to plant.

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Ford Motor Company has begun construction in Kansas City, Missouri, on a $1.1 billion expansion of its Claycomo Assembly Plant. The expansion will include construction of a 450,000-square-foot integrated stamping plant, performing renovations and additions to the existing paint shop, performing facility upgrades, and the addition of new tooling equipment in the final assembly area for production of Ford's Transit commercial van and the next-generation F-150 pickup.

A tentative labor agreement between Ford and the United Auto Workers includes a $1.1 billion investment and an additional 1,600 jobs at the company's Claycomo plant, the Missouri governor's office said.The Claycomo expansion would include building a next-generation vehicle, the Transit, a report in the Detroit Free Press said. The Transit is Ford's full-size European van, the Free Press reported.

The expansion would bring the Claycomo workforce to approximately 5,400, Gov. Nixon's office said.

“At a time when our economy desperately needs jobs, this expansion hits the spot,” said Rep. Sam Graves. whose district includes the plant. “The Claycomo plant has been great for our region and great for Ford. The investment is a testament to the quality work done by the thousands of workers at this plant every single day. This agreement will ensure Ford vehicles continue to be made in Missouri for a long time to come.”

The company will pay its U.S. factory workers a $6,000 signing bonus and add thousands of U.S. factory jobs as part of the four-year contract deal reached Tuesday with the United Auto Workers union.Ford plans to add 5,750 U.S. factory jobs under the deal, on top of 6,250 it announced earlier this year, for a total of 12,000 jobs by 2015.