Ford kicks off retooled F-150 production at KCAP

Production of the new aluminum body F-150 officially got underway this week at Ford Motor Co.’s at Kansas City Assembly Plant (KCAP), which will build the new 2015 model pickup along with the OEM’s Dearborn Truck Plant.

Ford said it started a $1.1 billion investment in KCAP four years ago aimed at retooling and expanding that plant to support production of both its new 2015 model F-150 pickups and its Transit full-size van line. After a 13 week overall, new upgrades to the KCAP facility include: 

• More than 900 new workers;
• An all-new body shop with more than 500 new robots;
• Assembly robots that use riveting and structural adhesives to create nearly spark-free manufacturing environment;
• More compact robots to install roof and door panels and to transfer the light-weighted truck to final assembly – resulting in a smaller manufacturing footprint;
• Updated paint shop with dirt detection technology and increased robotic paint automation;
• Installation of a “rough-road” test course.

The OEM added that KCAP and the Dearborn Truck Plant together provide enough production capacity to build more than 700,000 F-150 units per year.