Norfolk Assembly
Encyclopedia
Norfolk Assembly was a manufacturing plant operated by Ford beginning April 20, 1925 and most recently producing the Ford F150 truck. The plant was located on the Elizabeth River
, near downtown Norfolk, Virginia
, and produced its final truck just after 7AM, the morning of Thursday, June 28, 2007.
Norfolk Assembly produced the Model T, sedans and station wagons before building F-150s. Before it closed, the plant employed more than 2,600 people at the 2800000 square feet (260,128.5 m²) facility. Ford had invested $375 million at the plant in 2002 to upgrade it for production of the redesigned eleventh generation 2004 F-150.
As of 2004, the plant’s productivity ranked 17th-best among 45 truck assembly plants., producing a truck in 22 hours, 54 minutes – 83 minutes faster than the national average, operating at 109 percent capacity compared with 94 percent in 2003. As late as December 2005, it had appeared that Norfolk Assembly would be spared closing.
A drawing was held the last week of June 2007, for the last F150 produced, a red 2007 F-150 Lariat, won by Corey Bauswell of Portsmouth, Virginia.
The plant was represented by United Auto Workers
Local 919.
Elizabeth River (Virginia)
The Elizabeth River is a tidal estuary forming an arm of Hampton Roads harbor at the southern end of Chesapeake Bay in southeast Virginia in the United States. It is located along the southern side of the mouth of the James River, between the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk...
, near downtown Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, and produced its final truck just after 7AM, the morning of Thursday, June 28, 2007.
Norfolk Assembly produced the Model T, sedans and station wagons before building F-150s. Before it closed, the plant employed more than 2,600 people at the 2800000 square feet (260,128.5 m²) facility. Ford had invested $375 million at the plant in 2002 to upgrade it for production of the redesigned eleventh generation 2004 F-150.
As of 2004, the plant’s productivity ranked 17th-best among 45 truck assembly plants., producing a truck in 22 hours, 54 minutes – 83 minutes faster than the national average, operating at 109 percent capacity compared with 94 percent in 2003. As late as December 2005, it had appeared that Norfolk Assembly would be spared closing.
A drawing was held the last week of June 2007, for the last F150 produced, a red 2007 F-150 Lariat, won by Corey Bauswell of Portsmouth, Virginia.
The plant was represented by United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
Local 919.