By Al Vinikour
MotorwayAmerica.com

(August 7, 2012) STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — There was an old Sam Cooke record that was titled “Bring It on Home to Me.” This could be the theme song for a recent announcement by Ford Motor Company that it will open a new, flexible hybrid transmission assembly line to support its new C-MAX Hybrid , C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, Fusion Hybrid, Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.

In the process Ford will add 225 new jobs at its Van Dyke Transmission plant — part of Ford’s commitment to add 12,000 U.S. hourly jobs by 2015. Ford and its suppliers are investing $220 million to transform Van Dyke Transmission as part of a $632 million commitment to North American transmission facilities, also by 2015.

Ford will build its HF35, which incorporates two electric motors and is the first hybrid transmission to be designed and built by Ford, at the plant.

The goal is to create the industry’s highest-performing, smoothest-operating hybrid transmission. Previously, hybrid transmission production was handled by a supplier in Japan. By bringing the development work in-house the company reduces development costs by 20%.

New flexible equipment allows the plant to build both HF35 and Ford’s 6F, a conventional six-speed automatic transmission, at the same time.