Ford to close Norfolk Assembly Plant in restructuring

by Heather B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
May 2006

No one is safe in the auto industry these days. Less than five years ago Ford Motor Co. announced a $375 million expansion of its Norfolk Assembly Plant. Now the company plans to close the 81-year-old plant, which employs about 2,500 workers.

The decision to shutter the plant by 2008 stunned city and state leaders. Ford is undergoing a restructuring in which it plans to close 14 plants and cut up to 30,000 jobs by 2012. But many speculated that the Norfolk plant was safe. It builds Ford’s best-selling pickup truck, the F-150, and had received high ratings for its productivity.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he went to Ford’s headquarters in February after Ford announced its restructuring plan. “We will continue to make the case that Ford should reconsider this decision, or at least delay the scheduled date for ending operations at the Norfolk Assembly plant,” he said after the closing was announced last month.

The loss of the Norfolk plant would be a blow to the Hampton Roads economy, which is already bracing for the possible closure of Oceana Naval Air Station, the largest employer in Virginia Beach (see story on page 19). The Norfolk plant was one of two plant closings revealed by Ford in mid April. The other was a Ford Ranger pickup truck plant in St. Paul, Minn., which employs about 1,750 hourly workers.

Ford is trying to turn around its North American operations, which lost $1.6 billion last year. The company had earlier announced the closing of five plants in Missouri, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio and Ontario.

General Motors Corp., the country’s largest automaker, also is restructuring. It plans to close 12 plants by 2008.