Ford Blueoval City
Stanton, Tenn.
Year project and the best project, manufacture
Key players
Sent by Walbridge
Owner Ford Motor Co.
Lead design companies Ssoe; Gala and associates; Ghafari
Responsible for construction Walbridge
Structural engineer Gala and associate
Civil engineer Ssoe
MEP engineer Ssoe
At the production campus of 4.5 million feet by Dub Ford in Stanton, Tenn., A small town is not a hyperbole. Located on a 4,000 hectares campus that covers almost six square miles, Blueoval City is among the largest car manufacturing campuses in the history of the United States. Between Ford’s employees and his partners, the campus could support up to 10,000 jobs.
“If you think of all the sewers, gas lines, water and all that was to be put on the floor, fed from the Central Services plant to the whole site, the coordination of this was only massive,” says Chris Morgan, vice president of the Walbridge vehicle manufacturing group, which served as responsible for the construction of the project. “You are literally building a city and all its infrastructure.”
Under a design building contract, Walbridge was associated with the SSOE, Gala and Associates and Ghafari design team to deliver a three -year project that includes vehicle assembly, battery production and a supplier park. In addition, the team aimed to minimize the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process, potentially achieving carbon neutrality. The Megacampus was designed to add sustainable solutions, including the use of local renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar and wind energy.
Blueoval City was planned as a vertically integrated ecosystem for Ford to mount an extended alignment of Electric Vehicles F, including a Blueoval SK battery plant, key suppliers and recycling. Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center is the most sustainable and technically advanced vehicle assembly center of Ford so far. It was designed to be carbon neutral with zero residues for landfill.
The assembly area of the new vehicle line consists of five different buildings, which includes a stamping plant, a body shop and a final assembly area, paint shop, waste treatment area and about 1,500 feet of nine electric ducts of a new switch house.
The scale of the project required early coordination of both usefulness and facilities integrations, thus allowing a significant volume of pre-ordination equipment and equipment before the calendar to support aggressive construction milestones. Design work began in mid -2011 and was maintained when construction began in March 2022. The project was completed in April 2025.
The crews establish the first piece of steel. Once completed, Ford Blueoval City incorporates 77,000 tonnes of structural steel, the equivalent of the weight of eight Eiffel towers.
Photo of aerial innovations
Hiring through a pandemic
Pre -construction and hiring turned out to be especially bewildering. From the outset, the team immediately faced problems and the steps of the pandemic supply chain. Materials such as stone, sand, concrete roof, metal coating and structural steel, which traditionally have shorter recruitment time, were significantly affected.
The project team had to develop and maintain an aggressive contracting strategy that included the protection of structural orders of the steel factory in the early stages of design, ending the design of construction components around available materials and developing a logistics plan that allowed to store materials in advance. To mitigate the possible delays, the team built three plants for concrete lots on the site. Stone, lime and sand were stored to ensure timely concrete manufacture.
Time was also taken into account in the equation. “During work, the Mississippi River reached a historic minimum during a drought and the barges could not pass,” recalls Morgan. “We had to find a new way to get to the gravel at the place with trucks and trains. So, even with a good plan, Mother Nature launched a monkey key.”
Mass labor
During the early stages of pre -construction, teamwork analysis of the team revealed that in Peak Construction, the project would require about 6,000 workers. The team developed a strategy focused on attracting skilled labor on the site through the implementation of project incentives for shops in the city and outside the city.
In addition, the Construction Plan included collaboration with local and state authorities to ensure that workers have a clean and safe place with lunch facilities and rest areas. To this end, Walbridge dedicated local union trade and international commercial leaders to promote the participation of all shops in the construction of the city of Blueoval.
“We have never done such a great project, but we know how to do it. There were more.”
– Chris Morgan, Group Vice President, Walbridge
“Our message was:” Come to work here and you will have a good experience, “says Morgan.” “It will be a safe job and you will make a lot of money.”
From the outset, the project team was commissioned to reduce the costs as much as possible. He managed to review the previous projects, as well as their lesson learning database. The project team proposed and implemented several value engineering ideas aimed at design and construction techniques.
In an example, the plans were adjusted during the construction to modularize the pipes in racks 40 feet in length, each with six pipes that go in diameter of 12 to 24 inches. Walbridge estimates that this saved up to 12 weeks in the calendar.
“We have built thousands of feet on these,” says Morgan. “So we also kept the labor out of the place, to improve the improved cleaning and safety.”
IMPORTANT SITE WORK
To prepare for the 4,000 hectares, Walbridge issued his biggest employment contract ever. Although in most jobs the contractor of the place can work his own plan, Morgan says that the crews had to follow the work sequence.
“We would tell them that we first need this pad, then half of this pad, then another one a week later,” recalls Morgan. “The balance of logistics and site planning was a colossal effort.”
The buildings are configured in slabs with a mixture of caissons, depending on the specific structural requirements. All structures are steel buildings. Although Walbridge did some autonomous concrete and steel work, five steel erectors were hired to complete the structures.
In total, the crews worked 14 million hours without fatalities and an EMR proportion below 1.0. At the end, the three -year project was below the budget and earlier than expected.
“It was very puzzling at first, but we worked on the plan and got everyone to run,” says Morgan. “Hundreds of our people had to do their job. They just had to do what they always knew how to do. I am very proud of our team. No one overflowed and above their skis. We have never done such a great project, but we know how to do it. There were more things.”
