Ford Motor Company (F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Please welcome Beverly Robertson, President and CEO, Greater Memphis Chamber.

Well, all of those who are standing that would like seats, go ahead and move down so that you can take your seat, but good morning, everyone. What a great day for West Tennessee, what a great day from Memphis, Tennessee. Yes. I see my good friends, the Governor and the Commissioner of Economic Development here, and I want to say thank you. But for those of you who may not know Memphis, let me tell you, we are labeled as the Home of the Blues and the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, but those of you who know us, you know we are much, much more than that. We have tremendous assets such as road, rail, river, runway. We have a diverse population, amenities, great food, engaging and awesome music. And we love our music, don't we? For those of you who had an opportunity this morning to hear Stax Music Academy, did not they do an awesome job. I think they did. Thank you. Thank you for saluting Pat Mitchell-Worley and the Stax Music Academy. We are proud of their work. Now I want to thank all the partners today that made this special day possible, from Ford leadership to the State of Tennessee, to local government and to business partners. The only way we can drive transformational change in any area is by working with the 3-legged stool, government, business and community. That is the way to drive change in any community, and that is a part of the Ford philosophy. None of this would have been possible without our partners. Now I'm elated about this monumental investment and connections that Ford Motor Company and partner SK Innovation are making in this area of the country, particularly in West Tennessee. So this morning, I know that everybody else is going to talk about the details. I'm not going to take anybody's thunder this morning. But I want to share some connections between Memphis and Detroit. Detroit is, of course, the home of Ford Motor Company. For example, Detroit has Motown, and Memphis had Stax and Royal and Sun studios, just to name a few. Our city helped to produce America's songbook. Now Memphis birthed the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, but Detroit raised her and brought her to fame. Now Detroit owns the roads, but we own the air with FedEx. During my tenure at the National Civil Rights Museum, I had an opportunity to build a strong relationship with Ford Motor Company, and that relationship remains strong even today. They have been a major sponsor of our biggest fundraising event, our Freedom Award event. And even as you enter the National Civil Rights Museum, you will be welcomed by Edsel Ford II, via video, inviting you to enjoy your tour at the National Civil Rights Museum. So now you see the connections. Those are the tremendous connections. Now one more back in 1913, Ford produced wooden wheels and the wooden body foundation for Model T Ford, where? Right here in Memphis, Tennessee on Union Avenue. And then with this plant that they will have here, they will premiere eco-friendly, carbon-neutral manufacturing, and that will be the gold standard for the industry. So 108 years after they started here, they are back in Memphis, Tennessee, and we are glad to have them back. So collaboration, innovation, entrepreneurialism, all the characteristics exemplified by Ford. And some say entrepreneurial spirit runs in our water, and TVA, you know something about water, and MLGW. That same spirit runs through Ford and his founders. So these connections that I told you about are palpable. They are powerful. And we are grateful, Ford, that you found your way back to West Tennessee. So welcome back home. Thank you very much. [Presentation]

Please welcome Bill Ford, Executive Chair, Ford Motor Company.

Wow, what a great day this is. And I must tell you how impressed I've been with just meeting everybody here and the spirit that exists here. This has been, already for me, a wonderful morning, and we're just getting started. It's so exciting to be with you all here this morning at Shelby Farms. And needless to say, this is an incredibly special day for me personally and everyone at Ford. And we're here in Tennessee to talk about the future that we're going to build together, a brighter future for our country and for the planet and especially for our children and our grandchildren. Today, we're announcing the largest investment in American manufacturing in the history of our company. Just down Route 40 in Stanton, we're going to build the largest auto and battery manufacturing campus in the nation. Before I go any further, I really need to thank Governor Bill Lee and Commissioner Bob Rolfe for their incredible support. I think it should have been Bobby, not Bob, but that's okay. You guys have -- and your teams have just been amazing, and our team has loved working with you guys every step of the way. So thank you. And it is only because of their leadership that we're standing here today to announce this important partnership between Ford Motor Company and the State of Tennessee. I also want to thank UAW President, Ray Curry, and all our partners in the UAW who are so critical to the work we do every day. A moment like this is transformative, and it will become another historic chapter in our proud history. Whenever the world faces disruption and uncertainty, Ford has stepped up to shape it for the better. And I believe that's always when we've been at our best, when we're creating something larger than ourselves. Ford helped lead the Industrial Revolution and helped create a thriving middle class that could afford to buy the vehicles that we produced. Ford helped democracy prevail in 2 world wars and then used that might to put trucks on every small town work site to build the America that we know today. Last year, when the pandemic upended our lives, we changed our production lines, almost overnight, to make life-saving PPE for frontline workers, and that's what it means to be built for America, responding when our country needs us. And this is a moment when our leadership matters. The world is changing in profound ways. Technology and automation are transforming the economy. The tragic floods that ravaged parts of Tennessee last month are fast becoming the norm rather than a rare exception. And we see this as a call to action, to design and build a future that will reshape the economy and protect our planet in ways that work for all of our families, to create new waves of good, stable jobs that will support our children and our grandchildren. And we have to be bold, we have to go big, and we have to do it now. And this is why we're here today. To launch a new era of sustainable American manufacturing, to build electric vehicles and the batteries that power them on a massive scale, right here in Tennessee and right here in the United States of America. Anybody who knows me knows that my 2 passions have always been developing great vehicles and protecting the environment. Well, these passions have been intention for my entire life, but no longer. Technology and innovation have brought us to the point where we don't have to sacrifice one for the other. We'll drive American prosperity, and we'll protect the planet. And here's how. First, we're investing more than $11 billion here in Kentucky -- here in Tennessee and also in Kentucky to create 11,000 new jobs and build a sustainable manufacturing ecosystem, unlike any other. Second, we're investing $250 million to expand the Rouge EV center in Michigan, creating even more new jobs to create -- to meet the incredible demand for the F-150 Lightning. And third, we're expanding our jobs training program starting in Texas to prepare auto technicians across America to service the EVs of the future. And as we've embarked on this journey together, it's our commitment that Ford will be a good neighbor and work hard to enrich and give back to the communities that we're joining. This new campus, which we're now calling Blue Oval City, will be built just up the road from the Home of the Blues. And Blue Oval City will be America's largest vehicle and battery manufacturing campus, and it will be the first in the world that's carbon neutral. We're expanding every -- and we're looking at every aspect of production, every drop of water, every ounce of raw material, every watt of electricity that we're going to need. And our vision is to create a closed, clean loop of auto manufacturing. This will be a high-tech campus that does for the 21st century what the historic Rouge factory outside of Detroit did for the 20th century. It will set a new standard for American manufacturing. People will come from all over to study what we're going to do together here in Tennessee. And I believe our competition will follow our lead, and I'm happy about that. Look, we compete in business, but we share the same planet. And when it comes to creating a clean and sustainable economy, we have a shared responsibility. We know that the American people, our customers, are ultimately going to drive this change. And that's why we're going to keep creating the best vehicles in the world, 0 emissions and 0 compromises. And that's why we're going to strive to make them more affordable for working families. And this is how we're going to win the race and build a better world. And thanks to all of you, the next revolution in manufacturing will be an American revolution, a revolution led by Ford Motor Company, and it starts right here in The Volunteer State. Thank you all so much. [Presentation]

Please welcome the Governor of Tennessee, the honorable Bill Lee.

Thank you very much. Good things come to those who wait. In West Tennessee, you have waited just long enough to find the perfect match for the Memphis Regional Megasite. Thank you to Ford Motor Company, to SK Innovation, West Tennessee will now lead the nation in the next American industrial revolution. Tennessee becomes only the second state in the nation to have 4 major automotive OEMs located in our state. About 4,000 sprawling acres in West Tennessee required a vision and today, would not be possible without the leadership of Governor Bredesen, of Governor Haslam, of past and present members of the General Assembly, including Lieutenant Governor McNally and Speaker Cameron Sexton. I also want to thank the countless leaders at the local level who have made this happen, who have been involved along with Tennessee Valley Authority, Jeff Lyash, TVA President. We thank each one of our incredible partners for the role that you have played over the years, making this day possible. There is no doubt that today is a legacy day for Tennessee. I have long said that Tennessee can lead the nation, but only if we're committed to the accelerated transformation of West Tennessee. With nearly 6,000 high-quality automotive jobs coming to this region, we have kept that commitment. And we're putting our foot on the accelerator of that transformation. Blue Oval City will generate billions of dollars in economic impact through its construction and then its residency. A project of this magnitude could go anywhere in the world, but it chose to call Tennessee home. Ford Motor Company, thank you for believing in Tennessee, but more importantly, for believing in her people. Our commitment to skilled trades through career and technical education gave Tennessee a clear advantage over all these other possibilities in the globe. Only Tennessee can deliver the workforce and the quality of life that will make this project a success. And we are continuing to prepare a pipeline of skilled workers who are equipped for the future of advanced automotive manufacturing, students who are prepared for life beyond the classroom and workers who can make a great living for their families. This month, in fact, I've had the pleasure of highlighting this Tennessee workforce, spending time with folks on the assembly line, and joining our students in our colleges of applied technology. We plan to combine the best of career and technical education with the real-world experiences at Blue Oval City. While today is an announcement about Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation landing in Tennessee, I'm also announcing a-first-of-its-kind trade school that will be built on the Megasite within Blue Oval City. This partnership between the state and Ford will create another avenue for Tennessee workers to skill up and settle down with a great American company. And as we welcome a new partner, we also welcome a new neighbor, and we want to share our quality of life with you. Allow us to share the sites and the sounds and the traditions of West Tennessee, whether it's a walk down Beale Street or the view from a duck blind in Reelfoot. And let us certainly share our table with you as well, whether it's cornbread at the Four Way Grill or a stop by Helen's BBQ in Brownsville. We are grateful. We are excited. And we thank you, Ford Motor Company, we thank you. SK Innovation, welcome to Tennessee. You are going to love it here. And we will see you at Blue Oval City.

Please welcome Bob Rolfe, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bobby Rolfe, and I have the great privilege of serving Governor Bill Lee in our Department of Economic and Community Development. And our job every day is to bring great companies to our state, and today is no different. So Governor Lee, we have honored your request. To our friends at SK Innovation, thank you very much. We opened an office in Seoul, South Korea, ECD did 6 years ago. We've been calling on you a long time, and we are grateful that you answered the call, and so thank you very much. The State of Tennessee is about economic development. More importantly, it's about the automotive ecosystem about advanced manufacturing. And today, 3 OEMs call Tennessee home. Also, we're home to about 1,000 suppliers, Tier 1, 2s and 3s. And the great news is, we're getting ready to change the landscape in West Tennessee. And I share that with you because what this is going to mean to this area, this community, this part of the state, about 33,000 construction jobs. And that's a payroll of about $1.8 billion. We're also talking about, once the facilities have been completed, we're talking about approximately 27,000 direct and indirect jobs. And ladies and gentlemen, that's $1.8 billion a year of payroll. And then lastly, when we look at the impact, and I'm speaking to our stakeholders in Tennessee and our leadership in Tennessee, the return on investment is enormous, $3.5 billion a year in state GDP based on what these guys have made -- the decision they've made. So I want to thank Bill Ford, Jim Farley and your team. Your team did a fabulous job of negotiating, and I'm speaking specifically to Lisa Drake. Where is Gabby Bruno? Where is Mitch? And where is John Savona? So thank you, guys, very much. Also, I want to thank our friends at TVA. As was mentioned, TVA is a partner. So Governor, this is our 500th announcement, since you've been Governor, at ECD. TVA has been at the table all 500 times with their own set of incentives. And of course, in this case today, we're talking about a build-out of hundreds of millions of dollars. So TVA, Jeff, and where is John Bradley, thank you guys very much. All right. So also just a couple of quick partners because I think this is important to recognize that this is a true partnership. Governor Lee says, our job is to go out and recruit great companies, and it's up to the companies to deliver great jobs. And today, we're all about that. And I want to start with the Chamber and Jackson. Kyle Spurgeon and his team have done a fantastic job on the ground. I think -- and where is Mark Herbison with HTL Advantage? Beverly, thank you for -- and Ted Townsend at the chamber. And of course, I want to thank the Governor's cabinet and the team that has made this all part of what we're about today because this is going to be an enormous team effort. And I also want to thank my colleagues at ECD. And I say that to you, wherever Chassen Haynes is, Mr. October, Chassen, thank you. Allen Borden, wherever you are, we're going to build a hall of fame [ of vine ] on the campus. We've got 1 acre set aside for you, sir. And then to Sharon Kolb and Paul VanderMeer and Jimmy West. So thank you, guys, very much. So in closing, before I bring the final speaker up, I do want to make sure that Ford Motor Company knows that this is a partnership that's just beginning, ladies and gentlemen, just beginning, and I share that with you for the following reason. When you look at the F-Series of the Ford truck, it's a brand that's global, stands on its own. And the great news, if you distill down what the value is to that company, it's about $40-some-odd billion, just the F-Series. And guess what, ladies and gentlemen, they're coming to Tennessee. We couldn't be more excited, okay? Last thing for Governor Lee. Governor Lee, when you were sworn in 2.5 years ago, you asked us to go out and recruit great companies. Today, sir, we've not recruited 1, but we've recruited 2 great global brands. You also asked us to make sure that we bring prosperity to our rural communities, Governor Lee, this is going to transform this great West Tennessee area. You asked us to go out and recruit FDI. This is an FDI investment with our friends from SK. You also asked us, lastly, to make sure that we maintained our position as a leader in the automotive advanced manufacturing sector, sir. Not only have we done that today, but I think we can plant the flag when we talk about the EV evolution headquartered right here in Tennessee. So thank you for your great leadership. And before Jim Farley comes on stage, I love your tagline, Built Ford Tough. In a handful of months, we're going to say, Built Ford Tough mastered in Tennessee. Proud. So ladies and gentlemen, Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company's President and CEO to the stage.

Well, hello, everyone. Thank you all for being here. A year from now, I believe we'll look back on this day with a lot of pride as the beginning of something very special because we are all going to create a better future for this community and for our country. We're talking about positive change that had huge scale that only Ford and SKI can do. Breakthrough, incredible, new electric vehicles built in Tennessee and built for America; and batteries that will power the trucks that power all of America; a clean manufacturing system like the world has never seen; jobs that will support families and help our communities. It's time for all of us to lead. Not tomorrow, no aspirations, but right here today. I'm the proud grandson of Emmett Tracy. He joined Ford in 1913, helped to build Model Ts. Growing up, we'd drive past Henry Ford's Rouge plant, and he'd tell me stories about the first golden age of autos. Well, Blue Oval City, right down the road will usher in a new golden age. We chose to come to Tennessee because of all of you, your far-sighted leaders and our shared values and vision for the future. And we're going to encourage many others to come build with us. You made us feel very welcome. Let me acknowledge some of the people who made this all possible. Bill mentioned the Governor and Commissioner Rolfe. Also, I want to thank Jeff Lyash, Mark Herbison and the Memphis and Jackson Chambers of Commerce. Thank you. Ford is joining this whole community. We're going to bring great jobs, yes, but we're also going to be active citizens in the community. I also want to thank Bill for his vision. 20 years ago, people wanted to close the Rouge plant that put the world on wheels. They said it would never amount to more than a polluted relic in a bygone era. But Bill pointed out of his office window and said, let's make that plant the greenest plant in the world. and that's exactly what we did. And today, the most advanced truck we've ever made, the all-electric F-150 Lightning that is sold out, is starting to roll out assembly line as we speak right now. That's what a bold bet on the future can do for all of us. And that's what today is all about. Let's talk about the scale of what we're doing here. Blue Oval City will be the biggest auto manufacturing in our 118-year history, as you've heard. It will also be the cleanest and the most efficient. It will produce electric vehicles on a scale we couldn't have even imagined 10 years ago. The battery plant at Blue Oval City and the 2 more announcing today in Kentucky will have the capacity to build nearly twice as many batteries that are built in all of America. Working with our partners, SKI and Redwood Materials, we're going to jump start a new industry in America called high-tech battery production at scale. These batteries will be built in Tennessee and Kentucky. They're not going to be imported from overseas. We're creating 6,000 jobs right here in Tennessee, and we're open for business to hire those people. Now this is positive change, but on a huge scale. And what does this mean for our customers? 0 emissions, yes, but so much more. We will combine 100 years of truck know-how with tomorrow's technology. These trucks will be a joy to drive. They're fast. Just look at President Biden's face when he drove our Lightning. They're quiet. They're smooth as Tennessee whiskey. They'll be capable beyond anything in the market today. They're going to accelerate like a sports car. They can power your whole home or your job site for days when you need it. They'll do the dirty work on job sites, and then they're going to take you to church on Sunday. They're going to connect and improve over time with features coming through constant wireless updates. These vehicles will get to know you. They'll become part of your digital life. They'll connect seamlessly to your phone and your home and your workplace. And we use all the data to constantly improve the quality and fix problems before customers even know they have them. And will it be Built Ford Tough? You bet your ass. Even better, they're going to be Tennessee tough. We find ourselves at a crossroads as a company and as a country. We can wait. We can maybe hope that things change, or we could choose to lead. Thanks to all of you, we're going to create a better world for generations to come. One day, I'll bring my grandkids to Blue Oval City, just like my grandfather did when he took me to the Model T plant. That was the cradle of innovation and ingenuity in America. And I'll tell them about this very moment, this grand vision that all of you have for Tennessee that begins today. I'll tell them that we made it a decision to make a difference. Today, we are all Tennessee volunteers. And I'm honored to volunteer with you. Thank you for this great opportunity. God Bless you. Let's get this done. Thank you.