The Ford plant in Claycomo is adding a third shift to it’s F-series pick-up truck production line to meet increased demand.

Ford Plant Manager Dan Jowiski says the third shift will mean a thousand new jobs for the Kansas City region, in addition to the thousand announced earlier with the expanded Ford transit line. He says the F series line is up 24 percent for April and 19 percent year-to-date. Jowiski says vehicle sales are climbing as the economy recovers, and truck sales are directly related to new-home construction as the housing market rebounds.

Governor Nixon, who was instrumental in working with Ford to expand its assembly line in the Kansas City area, is at the plant today. He says the expansion ensures that Missouri will continue to lead the rebirth of the American auto industry.

Jowiski says the new jobs will be both entry-level positions as well as skilled labor. He encourages people in the Kansas City region who are unemployed to apply for the positions.

He says the full-size truck segment is growing three times faster than industry average and is fastest-growing segment this year.

Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of The Americas, says “Our Built Ford Tough F-150 is America’s favorite pickup, and we are going to step up operations at Kansas City to ensure we have enough trucks to meet customer demand.”

The Kansas City Assembly Plant produces the Ford F-150 regular, SuperCab and SuperCrew and will produce the Ford Transit. The plant currently has 2,450 hourly employees working on two shifts and will add a third crew in the third quarter.

Retooling and expanding the facility to accommodate the increase in production is estimated to cost $1.1 billion.