Ford is making a strong move to recover from the impact of a fire at an aluminum supplier, with plans to significantly boost production of its popular F-150 trucks. The automaker has announced that a third shift will be introduced at the Dearborn Truck Plant, which will help build over 45,000 additional F-150s. This initiative comes as Ford shifts focus away from the F-150 Lightning electric model, which has not met expectations, and instead prioritizes gas and hybrid versions.
The fire at the Novelis aluminum plant has disrupted operations for several automakers, including Ford, which relies heavily on this supplier for its truck production. While the setback has been costly, Ford is looking to bounce back in 2026 by increasing production capacity. To achieve this, the Dearborn Truck Plant will add a third shift with approximately 1,200 employees. Additional support will come from more than 90 new workers at the Dearborn Stamping facility and over 80 additional employees at the Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing plant.
- The third shift will be supported by new hires and transfers from other plants.
- Hourly employees at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center will also be transferred to the Dearborn Truck Plant to join the third shift.
- The F-150 Lightning production will remain paused indefinitely, as Ford focuses on more profitable models with gas and hybrid powertrains.
To further increase production of the F-Series Super Duty, Ford is investing $60 million into the Kentucky Truck Plant. This investment will help speed up the production line, allowing for one additional truck to be built every hour. Over time, this will result in more than 5,000 additional pickups being produced.
- The funds will also be used to train new employees.
- The plant is expected to add more than 100 jobs as part of this initiative.
In total, Ford aims to increase production by more than 50,000 units and create up to 1,000 new jobs. Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s Chief Operating Officer, emphasized the importance of meeting the demand for F-Series trucks, stating, “The people who keep our country running depend on America’s most popular vehicle – F-Series trucks – and we are mobilizing our team to meet that demand.”
The announcement to ramp up production comes as Ford revealed that the “Novelis headwind” could cost the company up to $1 billion in losses between 2025 and 2026. CEO Jim Farley has already visited the damaged plant and expressed commitment to working with Novelis and others to source aluminum that can be processed in the cold rolling section of the plant that remains operational. He added that efforts are underway to restore overall plant production, which will help minimize the impact in 2025 and recover production in 2026.
Given the fallout from the fire, Ford now expects to finish the year with an adjusted EBIT of $6 billion to $6.5 billion as well as an adjusted free cash flow of $2 billion to $3 billion.
Despite the challenges, there was some positive news for Ford in the third quarter. Revenue reached a record of $50.5 billion, representing a 9% increase from the previous year. The company also posted a net income of $2.4 billion. However, Trump’s tariffs cost the automaker roughly $700 million during this period.
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