Ford expansion may have stalled
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Sherri Chunn Staff Writer
Talk of a $500 million expansion at Ford's Hapeville plant stalled last fall when the automaker announced it would build a supplier campus in Chicago.
But whispers of possible changes at the facility -- which employs about 2,400 people -- continue.
Georgia economic development officials say the plant still is on the road to growth. But they can't -- or won't -- say when they expect the new activity or what it will be, a supplier park similar to the one in Chicago or an expansion of the plant itself.
Efforts to find land for a possible expansion have seemingly run out of gas. A Hapeville official says the only contact with anyone from the Ford plant about property in the past few months was with a union official in finding a vacant structure for an employee/retiree training center and child-care facility.
Meanwhile Blueovalnews.com, a Dearborn, Mich.-based Web site that bills itself as the "Independent Voice of the Ford Community," claims the company will consolidate Taurus and Sable production in Chicago and shut down the Hapeville plant by 2004.
But Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is mum on most of the speculation over the plant, except a statement saying it has no plans to idle or close any of its manufacturing facilities.
More than a year ago, several published reports pitted Atlanta and Chicago as competitors for an expansion that could include a supplier manufacturing campus. Both cities are home to older facilities that produce the Ford Taurus and the Mercury Sable. The supplier campus was supposed to create as many as 1,000 jobs.
In January 2000, Gov. Roy Barnes and R.K Sehgal, then-chairman of the board of the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, visited Ford officials in Detroit to discuss Ford's presence in Georgia, which has watched other Southeastern states lure new auto plants with attractive incentives.
In February 2000, a source close to the dealings told Atlanta Business Chronicle that the automaker would announce a $250 million to $500 million expansion of the Hapeville plant sometime in March. But that announcement didn't happen. In May, Ford held its annual shareholders meeting in Atlanta for the first time.
But four months later, in September, Illinois Gov. George Ryan and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced that Ford would build the first automotive supplier manufacturing campus in North America on Chicago's Southeast Side in exchange for a $100 million incentive package.
In a Sept. 8, 2000, Chicago Sun-Times story, Gov. Ryan said, "If it weren't for the incentives that we provided -- the mayor and I, city and state -- we wouldn't be here today. You'd be reading about it happening in another state. ... Better that the governor of Georgia receive that [condolence] call."
The supplier park, planned for a 155-acre site a half-mile from the Chicago plant, is expected to bring $63.4 million in road and infrastructure improvements to the area and be completed by mid-2003.
Expansion still possible
Sehgal, who now is commissioner of the Department of Industry and Trade, said the Chicago announcement didn't dampen Georgia's chances for an expansion.
"We knew there was going to be an expansion in Chicago, but it would not be at the cost of Atlanta," he said. "I am counting on what the CEO and top management with Ford has told us."
The Hapeville plant stands out among Ford's assembly plants. The plant, which was opened in 1947, was named the most efficient car assembly plant in North America in the 2000 Harbour Report. The Harbour Report, which analyzes the automotive industry, stated it was the first time in the report's history that a U.S.-owned manufacturer's plant led the rankings.
In 2000, the Hapeville plant built 281,733 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable cars.
"We have been told by Ford Motor Co. that the Atlanta plant is one of the most productive plants in their arsenal," Sehgal said. "We have been assured that it will continue, and there was indication from the CEO that Atlanta will continue to grow."
No land deals
But no land has been purchased around the plant for a possible expansion.
Kirby Glaze, an attorney who worked with the Hapeville Development Authority to determine if an expansion was feasible with land and property around the plant, said discussions never got serious enough to "do the math."
"Before we got that far, Ford made the decision to do it in Chicago," he said.
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