Flat Rock Assembly Plant

Flat Rock Assembly Plant
AutoAlliance International plant, 2010.
Former names	Michigan Casting Center (1972–1981) Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA (1987–1992) AutoAlliance International (1992–2012)
General information
Classification	Factory
Address	1 International Drive
Town or city	Flat Rock, Michigan
Country	United States of America
Opened	January 1972
Owner	Ford Motor Company

Flat Rock Assembly Plant, formerly known as Ford's Michigan Casting Center (MCC) (1972–81), Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA (1987–92) and AutoAlliance International (1992–2012), is a Ford Motor Company assembly plant located at 1 International Drive in Flat Rock, Michigan in Metro Detroit. The plant currently consists of 2,900,000 square feet (270,000 m²) of production space and employs 1,685 hourly workers represented by the United Auto Workers Local 3000, as well as 140 salaried workers. The plant currently produces the Ford Mustang coupe and the revived Lincoln Continental.

Following three years of work and the largest single investment by Ford, the Michigan Casting Center (MCC) opened in January 1972, at the time one of the most technologically advanced casting facilities in the world. Despite the sizable capital investment, frequent union labor problems and work injuries and declining demand for the V8 engine blocks produced there led to the facility's closure in 1981.

A worker, Robert Williams, was killed by an industrial robot arm on January 25, 1979. He is the first known human to be killed by a robot.

Mazda Motor Corporation started construction of a new building on the site of the Michigan Casting Center in 1985 and cars started production at Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA in September 1987 with the Mazda MX-6 and Ford Probe coupes. In 1991 the plant had 3,600 employees, including 250 Japanese employees.

Ford repurchased a 50% share in the plant on April 15, 1992, and it officially became a joint-venture and was renamed AutoAlliance International on July 1, 1992. The plant began production of all models of the Mazda 626 sold in America starting in 1993. The Ford Contour-derived Mercury Cougar was produced at the plant from 1998 to 2002. Production of North American Mazda 6 began in the 2003 model year, followed by the Ford Mustang starting in 2005.