When Ford Motor Company took stock of its current 60-year-old global headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, it became clear that the only way forward for the company and the culture would be to take a big leap and launch two new high-tech campuses.
Announced in 2016, the company committed an estimated $1.2 billion to a ten-year project which will move 30,000 employees from 70 buildings into a Product Campus and a Headquarters Campus.
The new campuses are part of a future that will see the Ford Smart Mobility plan executed.
The plan aims to integrate connectivity, mobility, technology, customer experience, and big data. Everything from rapid charging and car-sharing, big-data collection, and a car-swap program as well as autonomous vehicles, on-demand shuttles, and eBikes.
Ford also is spending $740 million on a project to revamp the Michigan Central Station, Detroit’s beloved historic but dilapidated former rail station, as well as other neighborhood sites, especially Corktown.
Acquired in June 2018, the station and several nearby properties that Ford now owns will anchor a 1.2 million-square-foot innovation hub that draws on talent at Ford and beyond.
The company sees the Corktown developments, along with Ford’s transformation of its Dearborn campuses as the vehicle to create a mobility corridor that will drive the future of transportation.
Ford also announced it is investing more than $1.45 billion in two southeast Michigan manufacturing facilities and adding 3,000 new jobs to strengthen its leadership in trucks and SUVs and support the company’s expansion into electric and autonomous vehicles.
At 199,000 employees and 67 plants spread across the globe, Ford's transformation and commitment to the future of mobility will be no small task.
With these new bold campuses and big bets on the future, Ford has shown that it is building a new corporate mindset that is going to be critical as the company enters its next 100 years.
Coronavirus and global revenue generation
Due to the outbreak of a new coronavirus in Wuhan, China - a city of 11 million 521 miles west of Shanghai - economic contagion is already rippling through Asia.
Tourism has been slashed, retail outlets closed on scale, service workers encouraged to work from home, and supply chains disrupted. Some are even suggesting Xi Jinping's important state visit to Japan this spiring could be put on hold.
Consider that Delta Airlines has suspended flights to mainland China until the end of April. At least 90 days of no flights meaning at least 90 days of new business put on hold.
The smart money on Wall Street tracks air traffic between the US and China as a KPI to determine where the economy is going.
With this Black Swan event to open the Year of the Rat, plan for 2020 to see little global economic expansion.
GM commits to $2.2 billion investment and 2,200 jobs at “D-Ham”
General Motors announced it is investing $2.2 billion in the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant and will make it the company's first assembly plant fully devoted to making electric vehicles.
According to GM, the plant will produce a variety of all-electric trucks and SUVs. The first all-electric truck will be a pickup with production scheduled to begin in late 2021.
GM said that it will soon be followed by the Cruise Origin, a shared, electric, self-driving vehicle unveiled by Cruise in San Francisco last week.
"Through this investment, GM is taking a big step forward in making our vision of an all-electric future a reality," GM President Mark Reuss said on Monday. "Our electric pickup will be the first of multiple electric truck variants we will build at Detroit-Hamtramck over the next few years."
"We are truly building the future today," Reuss said, "and we are doing it here in our hometown and home state, just up the road from our world headquarters."
When the plant becomes fully operational, GM said the investment will create more than 2,200 manufacturing jobs. The company also said it will invest an additional $800 million in supplier tooling and other projects related to the launch of an electric truck.
GM is expected to air a commercial during the Super Bowl that features LeBron James and the electric Hummer branded under GMC.
Reuss teased that more news could be coming during the Super Bowl: "I can definitely tell you this, the Super Bowl match-up Sunday between the Chiefs and the 49ers shapes up to be a classic and you should all tune in."
Irish Ambassador DanMulhall on how Brexit may benefit Ireland
“We will be the sole English-speaking, common law country in the European Union. We expect that this will add further to Ireland's attractions as a location for US investment in Europe.”