By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it will invest $155 million in its Sharonville plant as part of a $325 million expenditure to make a new six-speed automatic transmission in 2005.

The project, which received a 10-year tax abatement from Hamilton County last week, won't mean additional jobs at the Sharonville transmission plant - which employs 2,200 - but will bolster production at the 2.4 million-square-foot facility.

"It could open up work in the future,'' said Whitey Klein, president of United Auto Workers Local 863 at the plant.

The Sharonville plant will make gears for Ford's Livonia, Mich., plant, which will build the new six-speed transmission for a variety of rear-wheel drive Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and SUVs.

Ford said it was investing $170 million at the Livonia plant for the new transmission, which it said will be 4 percent to 8 percent more fuel-efficient than its traditional four-speed automatics.

Less than 1 percent of North American-made vehicles today have six-speed transmissions. But by 2010, up to 20 percent of vehicles sold here will have six-speed transmissions, the company said.

"By 2015, it will be about 50 percent, " said Dave Szczupak, Ford's vice president of powertrain operations.

Ford said the Sharonville plant will produce up to 7 million gears annually for the new transmission.

The plant, built in 1958, has won a string of new investments by Ford over the last decade. Last year, for example, the plant began producing Ford's new five-speed automatic transmission used in the F-series pickup trucks, Lincoln LS and other vehicles. That product was the result of an $81 million investment.

The Sharonville plant also makes four-speed automatic transmissions and gear sets and torque converters for other Ford transmissions. Last year it produced 800,000 transmissions.

"We're the best gear-maker in the world,'' said the UAW's Klein. "When the economy comes back, we'll be back on board.''

The plant now has just a handful of workers laid off.

The tax break approved by Hamilton County last week could save the automaker up to $1.3 million annually in personal property taxes.

Both the Sharonville and Livonia plants will incorporate a flexible manufacturing system, using computer-controlled, metal-cutting machines - rather than a traditional automobile transfer line to make the gears and transmissions.

The flexible manufacturing system allows the company to adjust production needs quickly and is less expensive than the larger, immobile transfer line, where parts move down an automated line from one operation to the next.

The new computerized machine tools can be reconfigured and programmed with little or no interruption in production, Ford said.

Email mboyer@enquirer.com