{"id":351348,"date":"2025-12-16T03:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351348\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T03:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:35:11","slug":"1600-workers-to-be-laid-off-at-kentucky-manufacturing-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351348\/","title":{"rendered":"1,600 workers to be laid-off at Kentucky manufacturing plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">GLENDALE, Ky. (WKYT) &#8211; Ford <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fromtheroad.ford.com\/us\/en\/articles\/2025\/ford-reinvests-trucks-hybrids-affordable-electric-vehicles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.fromtheroad.ford.com\/us\/en\/articles\/2025\/ford-reinvests-trucks-hybrids-affordable-electric-vehicles\">announced Monday<\/a> it will repurpose its battery manufacturing plant in Glendale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">BlueOVAL SK is expected to layoff of roughly 1,600 workers<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The facility will now focus on producing advanced battery energy storage systems for data centers, utilities and large industrial customers. Ford plans to bring this new capacity online within 18 months.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link | text-reset d-block h-100 w-100\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wkyt.com\/page\/wkyt-apps-for-ios-and-android-devices\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"WKYT Streaming Apps\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MEPHTWNVMREWLEQQWWFJM27ZMA.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>Ford subsidiary takes full ownership amid partnership dissolution<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The announcement comes as South Korean battery maker SK On and Ford Motor Company dissolve their partnership. Ford will take full ownership of BlueOval SK in Hardin County as demand for electric vehicles slows worldwide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford will take the two Kentucky plants, while SK On will pivot its Tennessee plant and reevaluate what is produced there. The split is expected to be finalized by the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Job changes amid business shift<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Workers who are laid off will have the opportunity to apply for positions with the new Ford subsidiary that will operate the Glendale facility, according to The Herald-Leader. The new energy storage business in Kentucky is expected to start with 2,100 employees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">This represents about 400 fewer jobs than were originally anticipated for just one of the two Glendale facilities. Combined, the state\u2019s BlueOval SK facilities were expected to employ 5,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>Project history and timeline<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Gov. Andy Beshear, SK On and Ford announced plans to build two electric battery plants in Glendale in September 2021. Officials broke ground on the site near Interstate 65 in late 2022 and held a groundbreaking for a $25 million BlueOval SK Training Center at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in May 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The first battery rolled off the plant in August 2025.<\/p>\n<p>State lawmakers respond to announcement<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Kentucky State Representatives Samara Heavrin and Steve Bratcher issued a statement regarding Ford\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cOur focus remains on making sure the men and women whose jobs are impacted by this decision have the support and resources they need to find new employment and that going forward this new project delivers real, lasting investment and meaningful employment for the families and communities surrounding Glendale,\u201d the representatives said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The lawmakers said they are optimistic about Ford\u2019s decision to take over the Glendale facility and transition toward energy storage, particularly as initial plans for the project have faced significant challenges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cAt the same time, optimism must be matched with both caution and accountability, and we will be watching closely to ensure commitments are met and honored,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>Governor was \u2018optimistic\u2019 for Ford takeover <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Before Monday\u2019s announcement, Gov. Andy Beshear addressed the partnership split during his weekly press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cFord will be taking control of each of the Kentucky plants. This is at least good news for Kentucky. I remain optimistic,\u201d Beshear said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The governor blamed the split on legislation in Washington and policies of the current administration, but did not provide specifics.<\/p>\n<p>Louisville plant gets new electric truck production<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Ford\u2019s Louisville Assembly Plant is set to begin producing a new midsize electric pickup truck in 2027. This is part of Ford\u2019s plan to expand its lineup of trucks and vans, and to offer more hybrid and extended-range electric options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The company is investing approximately $2 billion over the next two years to scale this new battery energy storage business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2025 WKYT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ky. (WKYT) &#8211; Ford announced Monday it will repurpose its battery manufacturing plant in Glendale. BlueOVAL SK&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[8308,174924,28,88099,10136,96096,569,2539,36354],"class_list":["post-351348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-battery","tag-blueoval","tag-business","tag-fired","tag-ford","tag-glendale","tag-kentucky","tag-layoffs","tag-plant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}