Ford is investing in employee training for BlueOval City. It is specifically training workers for BlueOval City’s electric vehicle (EV) assembly plant in Tennessee. The legacy automaker plans to start hiring for BlueOval City in 2025 and begin customer deliveries by the beginning of 2026.
“We have been humbled by the warm hospitality extended to us by our new neighbors in West Tennessee. As the company that helped create the American middle class, we want residents in every community around the region to benefit as BlueOval City comes to life,” said Kel Kearns, the Plant Manager of Ford’s Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center at BlueOval City.
Ford’s BlueOval City employees will be trained at the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center through its BlueOval Learning initiative. The company offers training online and in the classroom. The would-be BlueOval City workers will learn to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot equipment in their areas.
The legacy automaker already installed robotic training cells, conveyors, paint spray booths, and stamping press lines in BlueOval City’s Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center assembly plant. The employees will learn to operate machine vision systems for robot guidance and quality assurance, automated pick-and-place material handling, sealer and adhesive dispensing systems, and various automated mechanical joining technologies.
BlueOval City results from Ford and SK On’s $5.6 billion investment in West Tennessee. In 2022, Ford broke ground on BlueOval City. The automaker and the South Korean battery producer also invested $5.8 billion in Kentucky.
Ford is expected to produce batteries and the successor to its all-electric truck, the Ford F-150 Lightning, in BlueOval City. The upcoming electric truck is filed under the codename Project T3. In February 2023, Ford CEO Jim Farley teased that the company was working on a next-generation electric full-size pickup truck.
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