Closure Plans
The plant was rumored to be among the plants that were expected to be closed when company officials revealed restructuring plans dubbed The Way Forward on January 23, 2006. The St. Paul plant was not included among the initial list of plant closings announced in January. However, Ford announced on April 13 that the Twin Cities plant would close in 2008, along with the Norfolk, Virginia Ford F-series pickup plant. Ranger production has dropped from a peak of nearly 300,000 units in 1998, to under 120,000 in 2005. First quarter 2006 sales for the Ranger were under 22,500—down another 16% from 2005. While other Ford plants were operating at an average capacity of 75% in 2004, the Twin Cities Plant beat that average with 83%, but higher than average productivity was not enough to hold off the plant's ultimate closure.
On July 24, 2008, Ford announced they would keep the Twin Cities Plant open through 2011.
The plant produced its last vehicle on December 16, 2011 and has been closed. Ford plans to tear down most of the building on the site, beginning in the summer of 2012. Redevelopment plans will depend on the findings of pollution tests.
Read more about this topic: Twin Cities Assembly Plant
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