(March 14, 2015) CLAYCOMO, Mo. — Ford this week marked the official start of production of the all-new 2015 F-150 at Kansas City Assembly Plant, which joins Dearborn Truck Plant in building the new aluminum bodied pickup.

This means Ford has expanded production of the first mass-produced light-duty pickup truck with a high-strength, military-grade, aluminum-alloy body. In addition to producing all F-150 models and cab configurations, production at Kansas City Assembly Plant now includes F-150s with an 8-foot cargo box and heavy payload package to meet the needs of commercial fleet customers.

“The all-new F-150 has surpassed our expectations — setting new standards for full-size truck capability, technology and efficiency,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president, The Americas. (pictured at right) “With production starting at Kansas City Assembly, we are better poised to start meeting growing customer demand for our pickup.”

The all-new F-150 is off to a strong start. In January, F-Series had its strongest sales month since 2004 — Ford’s best sales year ever for F-150. Retail sales increased 7 percent in February. These numbers make F-Series one of Ford’s fastest-selling vehicles, at just 18 days to turn on dealer lots — well below the light-duty full-size pickup truck average of 105 days.

F-150 is part of the Ford F-Series lineup. Now in its 67th year, F-Series has been the best-selling vehicle in America for 33 consecutive years and America’s favorite truck for 38 years.

In 2011, Ford announced a $1.1 billion investment to retool and expand Kansas City Assembly Plant to support production of both F-150 and the Transit full-size van family.

Similar to the work Dearborn Truck Plant received, 13 weeks were spent upgrading Kansas City Assembly Plant with the latest in advanced materials and forming and joining technologies to support F-150’s innovative manufacturing process.

Upgrades to the facility include:

    • More than 900 new workers added to ensure the new 2015 F-150 is built with the highest level of quality and craftsmanship

    • All-new body shop with more than 500 new robots: Robots to conduct state-of-the-art joining technology using riveting and structural adhesives – resulting in a tougher, more durable truck and a quieter, 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. Robots with cameras to scan truck body to ensure the highest quality standards are met

    • Updated paint shop with dirt detection technology and increased robotic paint automation for a durable, best-in-class exterior appearance

    • Innovative production processes to support installation of new truck features such as class-exclusive 360-degree camera with split-view display

    • Rough-road test course to replicate extreme, real-life road conditions to ensure delivery of quiet, more durable truck

Combined, Kansas City Assembly and Dearborn Truck facilities will have capacity to produce more than 700,000 Ford F-150 pickups per year for availability in 90 markets globally.