Ford to Transfer Workers from Michigan Transmission Plant

Ford Motor Co. plans to cut 230 jobs at its transmission facility in Sterling Heights, Mich., and transfer affected workers to other facilities in the first quarter of 2019.

The transmission plant, which currently employs about 1,550 workers, produces automatic gearboxes for the Explorer, Edge, Escape and Flex SUV/crossover vehicles and Transit Connect vans. Ford opened the facility in the 1960s.

The move follows a similar one announced last month involving some 1,150 workers at Ford’s vehicle assembly plants in Flat Rock, Mich., and Louisville, Ky. About 500 of the Flat Rock workers are expected to move to Ford’s transmission plant in Livonia, Mich., which also supplies SUV gearboxes. The other affected workers will be offered jobs elsewhere.