Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant

Kansas City Assembly
Building
Country	United States
State	Missouri
Region	Clay County, Missouri
District	Claycomo, Missouri
Coordinates	39.202329°N 94.480534°W / 39.202329; -94.480534
Area	4,736,651 sq ft (440,049 m2)
Founded	1951
Owner	Ford Motor Company
For public	Private
Employees	3,700 at 2010
Manufactures (2007)	Ford Escape (leaving in 2011) Ford Escape Hybrid (leaving in 2011) Ford F-150 Mazda Tribute (leaving in 2011)
Previously Manufactured	Ford Falcon Mercury Comet Ford Fairlane Mercury Meteor Ford Maverick Ford Fairmont Mercury Zephyr Ford Tempo Mercury Topaz Ford Contour Mercury Mystique Ford F-150 Flareside Lincoln Blackwood Ford F-150 Harley Davidson SuperCrew Mercury Mariner Mercury Mairner Hybrid
Land Area	1,259 acres (1.967 sq mi)
Website: Ford

President George W. Bush visiting the plant on March 20, 2007, to tout the new hybrid cars (and his energy policy)

The Ford Motor Company's Kansas City Assembly plant in Claycomo, Missouri is a large automative manufacturing plant which has been called the largest car manufacturing plant in the United States in terms of units produced.

Fortune Magazine noted that in 2004 it was producing 490,000 units a year generating a buzz that it produces "a truck a minute."

The plant is about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the Kansas City, Missouri city center. Since its opening in 1951, the Ford Claycomo Plant, as many in the Kansas City area call it, has generated thousands of jobs, millions of tax dollars for the otherwise minor suburb, and is the largest tax generator in Clay County, Missouri, most of which fund North Kansas City and Liberty schools.

The assembly plant currently produces the popular F-150 (Ford F-Series), Ford Escape and Ford Escape Hybrid, Ford Maverick and Lobo (export only) and Mazda Tribute. In December 2010 Ford announced it was moving the Escape to the Louisville Assembly Plant which is undergoing $600 million in renovations.

The move stirred fears that it could result in the loss of half the jobs at the 3,700-person plant. A day after the announcement Ford said a yet to be announced line would replace the Escape. Missouri had been anticipating changes at the plant. In 2010 it passed the Missouri Manufacturing Jobs Act providing tax incentives for companies that invest in plants in the state by allowing them to keep employee withholding taxes. While the bill would benefit all industrial businesses it was specifically targeting the plant and was introduced by Jerry Nolte, whose district includes the plant. Ford could save $150 million over 10 years if it invests in the plant. The bill had been the subject of a filibuster by United States Senate candidate Chuck Purgason who objected to the favoritism extended to Ford and read aloud sections of Allan W. Eckert's The Frontiersman into the record. Ford in 2011 said it would spend $400 million upgrading it.

Previously, the plant assembled the Country Squire Station Wagon, Falcon, Comet, Fairlane, Meteor, Maverick, Fairmont, Zephyr, Tempo, Topaz, Contour, Mystique, as well as light trucks.

The KCAP opened in 1951 for military production. Converted to auto assembly in 1956 and began production as Ford assembly plant in 1957. The KCAP is now responsible for building the popular F-150 alongside the Ford Escape & Escape Hybrid. The 4,700,000-square-foot (440,000 m²) on 1,270 acres (5.1 km²) facility employs 4,725 people. Plant tours were discontinued on September 12, 2001 due to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

The plant is on the site where former Trans World Airlines president Jack Frye owned a home. Legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh visited often and reportedly spent his honeymoon with Anne Morrow Lindbergh there.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Official Ford site