As production nears for the upcoming 2011 Ford Explorer, news of plant upgrades and new jobs continues to flow. The latest positive news for the struggling job market comes as Lear Corp. said it will hire an additional 285 workers in order to help produce seats for the next Ford Explorer .
The 2011 Ford Explorer marks a serious departure from its long-standing history as a rugged truck-based SUV as it transitions to CUV-status for increased comfort and fuel efficiency. With the substantial changes come shifts in production, and increases in the work force required to produce it.
Ford has already decided that the 2011 Ford Explorer CUV will be produced at its Chicago plant, but parts will be sourced from many suppliers such as Lear in Hammond, Indiana. Associated Content estimates that Ford’s Chicago plant will also gain 1,200 jobs as a result of the Ford Explorer starting production in the fourth quarter of this year.
Lear has supplied parts to Ford’s Chicago plant since the mid-1990s, but it says the existing 140 workers at the Hammond plant will need to be augmented by an additional 285 workers in order to keep up with the production demands. Lear will also be spending $2.2 million to re-tool the plant for production.
As with many auto parts suppliers, Lear has issued layoffs in the last year and it says it will be able to re-hire as many as 100 workers with the latest work order by Ford.
Lear is ranked at the number four slot on the Automotive News top 150 suppliers in North America list, and currently employs 75,000 workers worldwide with gross sales from automakers of $4.9 billion back in 2008.
References
1. ‘Ford Explorer seating contr…’ view
2. ‘The new 2011 Ford Explorer…’ view
