Flat Rock Assembly Plant, formerly known as the Michigan Casting Center (1972–1981), Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA (1987–1992) and AutoAlliance International (1992–2012), is a

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

assembly plant located at Drive in Flat Rock, Michigan in

Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...

. The plant currently comprises of production space and employs 3,510 hourly workers and 140 salaried workers. The plant currently manufactures the

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...

History

Michigan Casting Center (1972–1981)

Following three years of work and the largest single investment by Ford, the Michigan Casting Center (MCC) opened in January 1972, at the time one of the most technologically advanced casting facilities in the world. Despite the sizable capital investment, frequent union labor problems and work injuries and declining demand for the V8 engine blocks produced there led the facility's closure in 1981. A worker,

Robert Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to: Architecture * Train %26 Williams#Robert Edmund Williams, Robert Edmund Williams (1874–1960), Canadian-American architect * Robert Williams (architect) (1848–1918), Welsh architect a ...

, was killed by an

industrial robot An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes. Typical applications of robots include robot welding, welding, painting, assembly, Circu ...

arm on January 25, 1979. He is the first known human to be killed by a robot.

Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA (1987–1992)

Mazda is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...

Motor Corporation started construction of a new building on the site of the Michigan Casting Center in 1985 and cars started production at Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA in September 1987 with the

Mazda MX-6 The Mazda MX-6 is a Front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, front-engine, front-wheel-drive coupé manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1987 to 1997 across two generations. Mechanically identical to the Ford Probe, the Mazda Capella, Capella/6 ...

and

Ford Probe The Ford Probe is a liftback (i.e., hatchback) coupé manufactured and marketed by Ford for model years 1988-1997 over two generations. The Probe was a byproduct of Ford's collaboration with its Japanese partner Mazda, and both generations der ...

coupes. In 1991 the plant had 3,600 employees, including 250 Japanese employees.Cohen, Sharon.
Metamorphosis in Motown
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Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' at ''

The Ledger ''The Ledger'' is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida, and the Polk County area. History The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as the ''Lakeland Evening Ledger''. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning ''Lakeland S ...

''. Thursday December 26, 1991. p. 7C. Retrieved from

Google News Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google ...

(95 of 121) on November 19, 2013.

AutoAlliance International (1992–2012)

Ford repurchased a 50% share in the plant on April 15, 1992, and it officially became a joint-venture and was renamed AutoAlliance International on July 1, 1992. The plant began production of all models of the

Mazda 626 __NOTOC__ Year 626 (Roman numerals, DCXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 626 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent ...

sold in America starting in 1993. During this era, Deepak Ahuja was Chief Financial Officer of the joint venture. The Ford Contour-derived

Mercury Cougar The Mercury Cougar is a series of automobiles that was sold by Mercury (automobile), Mercury from 1967 to 2002. The model line is a diverse series of vehicles; though the Cougar nameplate is most commonly associated with two-door coupes, at va ...

was produced at the plant from 1998 to 2002. Production of North American Mazda 6 began in the 2003 model year, followed by the

starting in 2005. The last Mazda 6 rolled off the line on Friday, August 24, 2012, with Mazda discontinuing production on American soil, effectively ending the 20 year joint-venture between Mazda and Ford. Mazda moved production of the Mazda 6 back to the Hofu factory in Japan and opened a new factory in Salamanca, Mexico to build the

Mazda 2 is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., a cork-making factory, by Jujiro Matsuda. The company then acquired Ab ...

and

Mazda 3 is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...

subcompact and compact cars.

Flat Rock Assembly Plant (since 2012)

On September 10, 2012, Ford Motor Company re-took full management control of the plant, renaming it the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant, and confirming $555 million in investments designed to retool the plant for the production of the 2013 Ford Fusion midsize sedan. On July 15, 2015, Ford confirmed that the new 2017

Lincoln Continental The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced between 1939 and 2020 by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a per ...

sedan would be produced at the Flat Rock plant starting in 2016. On January 3, 2017, Ford announced that it will begin manufacturing an electric small SUV by 2020, and a high passenger volume autonomous vehicle designed for commercial ride hailing or ride sharing by 2021, both to be built at Flat Rock. Ford reduced production of the plant from two shifts to one due to lower demand for the Ford Mustang and especially the Lincoln Continental. Over 1,000 workers were laid off in April 2019, including almost 500 temporary workers. In March 2019, Ford announced change of its plan, production of battery-electric vehicle would not start until 2023.

Products

Current

(2005–present)

Past

(2017–2020) * Ford Fusion (2013–2016) * Mazda 6 (2003–2012) *

(1999–2002) *

(1990–2002) *

(1989–1997) *

(1988–1997)