Ford Adds 850 Jobs at Dearborn to Build Newly Redesigned F-150

Ford Motor Co. said Monday it would add 850 hourly wage jobs at its Dearborn facilities to build the newly redesigned, mostly aluminum F-150 pickup, America’s best-selling vehicle.

The pickup is made mainly of aluminum rather than steel and represents a gamble for the company, the Wall Street Journal said. The automaker will have to convince die-hard customers that the aluminum is as tough as steel.

By using aluminum, the No. 2 automaker can cut the weight of the pickup by about 700 pounds and increase fuel efficiency, putting the automaker in line with new federal fuel economy targets affecting Detroit automakers.

“Actually, the launch is going very well so far,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas, told reporters. “Every new-model launch that I’ve ever been a part of has issues, but actually this launch is going to plan.”

The new hires will include 500 assembly line workers, 300 workers at the stamping factory and more than 50 in the diversified operations division, Reuters reports. Ford isn’t taking new applications for the positions, but rather is sifting through previous applications.

The first of the new hires will begin working by the end of the year and will bring the company’s total employment at the Rouge complex to 5,500, the Detroit Free Press reports. All but about 500 of those jobs are hourly wage jobs.

The new jobs represent “the commitment to excellence that the hardworking men and women of the Rouge demonstrate every day,” Jimmy Settles, the head of the Ford department of the Ford department of the United Auto Workers, said.

“The technology in the all-new 2015 F-150 is something the auto industry has never seen before, and our UAW members are poised and excited to build the next generation of America’s favorite truck,” Settles said.

The trucks should be available to consumers by the end of the year.