Ford’s Cleveland Engine Plant starts 3rd shift to meet demand for EcoBoost V6 engines

Ford has added a third shift at Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 to meet demand for 3.5-liter EcoBoost and 3.7-liter V6 engines. Introduced in 2009 on the Ford Taurus SHO and Lincoln MKS, EcoBoost technology combines direct injection and turbocharging. The EcoBoost solution has been popular with customers, who have purchased 180,000 Cleveland-built 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engines since 2009. In 2011, Ford sold a record 121,000 vehicles equipped with 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engines when F-150 began offering an EcoBoost option. In first-quarter 2012, Ford sold more than 39,000 vehicles equipped with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine, representing more than a 285% increase from the first quarter of 2011. The 250 jobs being added in Cleveland for running the third shift primarily will be filled by employees transferring from Cleveland Engine Plant No. 2, which is scheduled to end production later this week. Later this month, Ford will add one shift of F-150 production at its Kansas City Assembly Plant.