TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Ford's top North American manufacturing executive says it's unlikely the automaker will build another U.S. factory anytime soon.
Jim Tetreault (TAY-trow) says his job is to squeeze more cars and trucks out of existing factories to avoid the high cost of new plants.
Ford's U.S. sales bottomed out at 1.7 million in 2009 when the company nearly went out of business. But they rebounded to more than 2.2 million last year and have risen 13 percent so far this year.
Tetreault says the company has hired 8,000 factory workers in the past 15 months and raised assembly line speeds to help meet demand. Now it's getting rid of bottlenecks by buying new equipment, redesigning parts or hiring more people.
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