Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant

The Kansas City Assembly Plant (KCAP) is Ford Motor Company’s automobile assembly complex in Claycomo, Missouri, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Kansas City.¹ Opened for military production in 1951, converted to auto assembly in 1956, and producing consumer vehicles from 1957, it currently builds the Ford F-Series (including F-150) and Ford Transit and employs on the order of 9,000 hourly workers represented by UAW Local 249.¹

Overview

Operator	Ford Motor Company
Location	Claycomo, Clay County, Missouri
Opened	1951 (military); consumer auto production 19571
Site	about 4.7 million sq ft production space on roughly 1,270 acres1
Employment (order of magnitude)	~9,000–9,500 hourly (UAW Local 249); ~9,021 cited as of April 2024 on secondary synthesis1
Current products	Ford F-Series (1957–present at plant); Ford Transit (2014–present)1
Labor	United Auto Workers Local 2491

History

The plant opened in 1951 for military production, converted to automobile assembly in 1956, and began consumer vehicle production in 1957 with continuous F-Series production from that year.¹ Tours ended September 12, 2001.¹

In December 2010, Ford announced moving Escape / Escape Hybrid production to Louisville, raising job fears at a then-smaller workforce; Missouri’s Manufacturing Jobs Act (2010) offered tax incentives aimed in part at retaining Ford investment, and Ford followed with roughly $1.1 billion in upgrades (including stamping) and designation as North American lead site for the Transit (replacing E-Series vans).¹

Facilities include final assembly plus stamping (Transit), and separate body and paint shops for F-150.¹

Former products (selected)

Among lines once built at KCAP: Mercury Mariner (2005–2011), Lincoln Blackwood (2002), and the Escape family before the Louisville move.¹

Sources

See also

• claycomo-mo
• gm-fairfax-assembly
• Wiki

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Kansas City Assembly Plant.” — asserts: Claycomo location ~10 mi NE of downtown; F-150 and Transit; ~4.7M sq ft; ~9,456 hourly / UAW 249 (lede); 1,270 acres; ~9,021 employees April 2024; military 1951 / auto 1956–57; tours ended Sept 12 2001; Escape move 2010; Missouri Manufacturing Jobs Act; $1.1B investment 2011; Transit lead site; product lists. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²