We're learning more details about the $600-million investment coming to Ford's Windsor operations.
As part of the contract ratified by Unifor members over the weekend, the launch of a new engine program in Windsor was confirmed.
The 7-litre engine will be built in the Ford Annex site off Drouillard Road.
Local 200 President Chris Taylor says there is a lot of preparation needed to get the facility ready for production.
He says the space needs to be cleared out: "before anything can happen we're got to get our trades people in there and completely clean out all the redundant equipment and open up that floor space, then it will be getting services in place so there's a ton of work to be done between now and when the equipment starts to land"
Taylor says the manufacturing machinery will have to be built, not re-located because this is an entirely new engine program.
He expects the program will create over 500 positions, eliminating all the layoffs among Unifor Local 200 members.
Taylor says the engine will be part of the 2020 product launch for Ford and is slated to go into "premium" vehicles, but no other details are known yet.
He says the 5-litre V8 being made at the Essex Engine plant has a long future ahead of it and that the 6.8-litre V-10 currently being made at the Windsor Engine plant will continue for many years.