CLAYCOMO, Mo. — Ford will be laying off over 1,200 workers at the Claycomo Assembly Plant later this month as it retools the plant to produce a new vehicle.
According to the report in the Kansas City Business Journal, the automaker plans on moving production of the Ford Escape to Louisville, Kentucky, and retool the plant in the Northland to produce the Ford Transit van.
The production changeover has also prompted several metro Ford suppliers to plan layoffs during the downtime as well.
The plan is part of the automaker’s $1 billion expansion plan for the facility. Ford officials say that they eventually plan to add over 1,600 local jobs as part of the expansion.
There is no word on when production of the Transit is set to begin, except that a company official told the Business Journal that it should be starting in 2013.
Officials say that production of the F-150 pickup at the plant will not be interrupted. The plant employs around 3,300 total workers.