New aluminum F-150 makes its debut - Dearborn Press and Guide
When the first 2015 Ford F-150 rolled off the assembly line on Nov. 12 at Ford’s massive Rouge plant, executive chairman Bill Ford, CEO Mark Fields, and dozens of reporters and TV cameras were there to cheer it. But there was an even more important group there: hundreds of Rouge employees, all wearing “It’s Here”... From its beginnings in the 1920s as the place where the Model A was built, this facility on the Rouge River has been an essential part of the automaker’s operations. Today the complex, now under the blanket name of Ford Rouge Center, is on the verge of a new era as it rolls out the important all-new truck for Ford, and employees are welcoming the growth and change that it represents. The Rouge plant is responsible for all but the extended-bed model of the popular truck. a Ford plant in Claycomo, Missouri, will build that. Fields was talking about Ford’s decision to make the F-150 pickup truck’s body and bed out of aluminum, rather than steel, starting with the 2015 model year. ” said stamping plant manager Frank Piazza. Gleaming aluminum pieces made their way through the stamping plant under Piazza’s watchful eye as he called the change to aluminum “an adventure. Source: www.pressandguide.com
