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It's re-imagining how electric vehicles and batteries are designed and built.

Hello, I'm Steve Beverly, and on this edition of Tennessee is Talking, the topic is the new Ford BlueOval SK campus in Haywood County.

From their current status to what jobs they're hiring, we have the plant manager with us.

Let the conversation begin.

That's so cool.

Then that's when I said that.

The problem with that idea is--.

Wow, that was amazing.

Then I came up with the solution.

What was that about?

Here's what I think about this.

Now we're talking.

West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee is Talking.

Let the conversation begin.

Thanks for joining the discussion.

I'm Steve Beverly, and today we're talking about the new BlueOval SK campus near Stanton in Haywood County.

Who better to get the inside scoop from than Plant manager Tracy Church.

Tracy, thanks so much for giving us your time today.

It's great to have you with us.

Absolutely.

I'm happy to be here with you.

I want to start off today by particularly, we have new people who move into West Tennessee all the time, and perhaps we have people who haven't been in the loop or in the know about BlueOval SK.

Give us just a thumbnail of how this project originated.

Ford, of course, has a big vision for being a leader in the automotive electrification effort in the United States in the coming years.

With that, they made the decision to build a completely new vehicle assembly plant for that next completely redesigned electric vehicle.

West Tennessee was chosen for the location for that facility, and that was the birth of BlueOval City.

With that, as part of BlueOval City, of course, BlueOval SK will have a plant there as well.

BlueOval SK is the joint venture partnership that Ford has created with SK On.

SK On is a battery company headquartered in South Korea.

BlueOval SK is the joint venture between those two big companies.

The plant at BlueOvall City will supply batteries for the vehicle at BlueOval City as well, the Ford vehicle plant.

This has to be exciting for you personally, to be involved in a project that has this kind of innovation to it.

Absolutely, it is.

Actually, it's a bit of a return to this piece of the industry for me.

I spent a lot of years with another automaker in Tennessee and actually had a bit of experience in this about a decade ago.

For me, it really is exciting to have a chance to do that again on a much grander scale with a company like Ford and, of course the BlueOval SK joint venture with SK On.

Particularly exciting for me is I'm a native Tennesseean.

I've spent most of my life living in middle Tennessee, so it's been really enjoyable for me to start to learn West Tennessee and be part of something that's going to transform West Tennessee, lots of people's lives and for generations to come.

That is really very personally exciting for me.

Bring us up to date on where we stand with the construction.

The construction, if you saw the plant today, it almost looks complete as far as the building.

It's fully enclosed now.

Now, around the grounds, of course, none of the concrete asphalt, none of that is present yet.

There are still thousands of workers on the site every day.

We've started just after the first of the year started to bring the basic equipment into the plant.

That's the HVAC systems and the power systems into the plant.

Starting in about a month from now, we'll have our actual process equipment, will start to be installed.

It's starting to be very exciting every day.

Now, what is the, at least ballpark target for having everything complete up and running to where the first product is turned out in the plant.

2025, which is a little bit closer every day.

-It comes closer [laughs] and faster.

-Absolutely, it does.

When I joined this program almost two years ago, that seemed so far in the future, but we're actually saying next year now.

Somewhere in the later part of next year is when we intend to start production.

Okay.

What kinds of jobs are we talking about?

You got such a broad base of people who live here and many people I know are interested in working for this particular project.

Give us just an idea of some of the different kinds of jobs that the company's going to be looking for.

2,500 jobs is the estimation at this point for BlueOval SK and BlueOval City.

Of course, the majority of those will be the production workers, operators running the production lines and the maintenance technicians who support the equipment on the production lines.

Those jobs actually, we've started to hire for those now.

The requirements for those are-- I'm glad you asked that question because the requirements may not be exactly what some people would expect.

Making batteries is very new for everyone so we don't expect applicants to have battery experience necessarily.

Manufacturing experience is a plus, of course, and for a maintenance technician, we do have a requirement that they have a industrial maintenance certificate or an associate's degree in a relevant field.

There are some specific requirements around maintenance for the production workers.

Really it's more about curious people who want to learn a new skill set, a new technology, and have that drive to want to be part of something this big.

That's really the main requirement for someone into the production areas.

Now, along with that, of course, we have supervisors, team managers, even HR, finance, all the supporting types of roles as well.

There really is probably a job for just about anyone who has interest.

There's probably a match in a field that for just about anyone in the area who's interested in pursuing a career.

Well, for people who are interested in pursuing that, the magic question is what is the best way right now for them to apply?

The BlueOval SK website.

That's blueovalsk.com.

All the active job postings are there.

There's also a way for interested people to sign up for the newsletter distribution.

That gives just general updates on the construction, any timing updates, and even talks some about more specifics around some of the jobs to be posted.

We truly are just getting started so it's a great opportunity still for people to come in and be part of that ground floor team.

Tracy, any time that you have a major new employer, and I underscore that word major, there is such huge interest in community involvement beyond just the jobs that it will provide.

We know that BlueOval SK is committed to local community projects in west Tennessee.

What can you elaborate on about that?

Even with the small number of people we have on board now, we've already had some opportunities to do exactly that.

Our team is so excited every time we have an opportunity to do that.

We've supported a Habitat for Humanity build back in December, and then we've had team members work with RIFA, the Dream Center, just to name a couple but we really look forward to having other opportunities to have people engaged in local efforts.

This may not be an area that you've explored that deeply yet.

We have areas here in Jackson such as Early College High with the Jackson Central Mary High School, where frankly high school seniors have the opportunity to get, if I guess the best way we could call it, many internships with a number of areas.

How would that possibly occur here is long-term do you project that you would have internship availabilities for young people who maybe want to learn this business?

We do envision that as part of our future opportunities.

This year, of course, we're still in construction and very limited in terms of what we can do on the site.

We're probably looking maybe next year at the earliest I would imagine on being able to do something like that.

I personally very supportive of programs like that, and I know many of us who came from other companies who've had great success in those programs to start building those relationships with the colleges and universities.

You mentioned internships, but we've discussed even more extensive co-op programs or even project teams specifically for certain classes with some of the local universities.

We're taking opportunities already to work with the administrations at some of those universities and other facilities to have those relationships for the future.

We have a big vision for that space.

It's almost unlimited opportunities where that's concerned.

I always try to explore with someone who is in your area of responsibility, and that is just seeing how this has evolved from when you started with your current job, seeing how this evolved, how exciting is it just to go to the plant every single day and see something new or seeing just even small progress develop?

You said it exactly right, every day.

I don't go necessarily every single day still because it's still a construction site but if I go the beginning of the week and the end of the week, you can absolutely see a change.

Of course, there are stresses and different pressures that we're starting to face with a program like this but when you go and see that change, it really, for me personally, re-grounds me and re-energizes that excitement.

Then when I'm able to go visit with the team, they're in some training facilities now primarily, go visit with the team and give them updates on or share some photos with the team.

It's really exciting for everyone to see it starting to come together because we started with just drawings on paper and really to see it come to life is really just hard to describe that.

This potentially changes the face of transportation for so many, many people.

In particular, how important is it for all of us to know more about how this is going to change the way that we actually move from place to place every day?

From a consumer perspective, there is a lot of information, a lot to learn.

I know I've been impressed by starting to see vehicle chargers in so many different locations in West Tennessee so I know the local communities and local agencies are very interested in getting that out there.

That's step one is to have the infrastructure in place and I know that we're seeing that change.

Then from a consumer perspective, to just be open-minded and have that thought process around shifting from why is an electric vehicle not a good fit for me versus how can it be the right fit for me?

It's a process, no doubt about that, but it's great to see so many people everywhere I go and when people know what I'm doing, of course, they have questions exactly like that so it's really enjoyable to have those conversations with people who are so anxious to learn more about that and how, like you said, it's going to impact how we move from place to place.

I remember when we saw the first charging stations installed at Casey Jones Village here in Jackson and just thinking about at that point in time, I remember the late Clark Shaw mentioned about that his son was the one and of course his son Brooks is now the general manager of the place and Brooks, I remember Clark said he gets it and about the fact that this was the future and is the future.

It was amazing just to see how all of that transformed and granted, it's a slow process, but at the same point in time, to be part of a game changer is amazing.

What do you think is the one or two things, what are the one or two things that you think would really surprise or amaze people most about the BlueOval SK campus?

The size of the campus is the first thing.

I think that's the first impression because you can't see it from the interstate.

You have to be on the road adjoining the site to be able to see it so probably not everyone has had a chance to see it.

The size, you can't describe it and even showing aerial photos or aerial video footage until you see it in person, it's that overwhelming to see that.

The battery plant, the BlueOval SK plant is almost four million square feet and that's just the size of it.

-That's mind boggling, it really is.

-It is.

Probably most people have never even seen a building close to that size.

Then the truck plant for Ford is divided into multiple buildings, but it's almost that same square footage, so that's the first impression I think that people get.

Then the second thing at the moment is how many people are there working every day and how impressive it is that all this has come together really in a relatively short time when we think about when the ground breaking was and actually when did construction start.

It hasn't been that much over a year really since substantial construction started so the speed at which this has all come together.

Again, that's Ford's vision to be that leader and to be the leader and to have BlueOval SK be a part of being the leader in the industry, speed is of the essence now.

Everyone's racing to have that battery capacity in place to support that, getting that market share in the electrification.

When word first started about this plant and that this was what it was going to be after many years of many people wanting to know, "Okay, what eventually is going to go there?"

and then it was a big excitement when the announcement was made at that point, but the piece that is also a huge part of this is economic development in all of our surrounding counties.

Jackson right here where we're doing this show and the other counties, it has to be huge as far as potentially with 2,500 jobs and all of those people have families and they got to be able to buy stuff everywhere they go and it's got to be huge for the economic development for all of West Tennessee.

Absolutely, and that's a big part of the excitement for me is to see that from the beginning.

I mentioned before that I've worked in the automotive in.. what a company like Nissan has done for the Middle Tennessee area, the immediate area around the plant, but like you mentioned, all the surrounding counties.

That's the core of what transformed Middle Tennessee and to see that from the very beginning in West Tennessee is so exciting.

You named a few with retail and commercial needs and residential and what that-- It's almost impossible to envision all the change that it brings, but it's all such tremendous progress and it changes the lives of families who maybe the parent gets a job in a plant and sees all the opportunities.

Now their children, they can go to college and become an engineer and now they have an employer like that in the area so they don't have to leave home and work in another part of the state or outside the state, so it changes families for generations to come.

That's a huge thing because so often families have to separate whenever the kids go to college and they get their jobs afterward and it sends them scurrying across the country.

It does.

This is so different where that's concern.. At this stage of the game, walk me through what your day is like when you go to the campus.

Okay.

I don't go to the campus every day just yet because we're still-- I didn't mention in the beginning, BlueOval SK also is building two plants in Kentucky.

Glendale, Kentucky is the other site for BlueOval SK.

The first plant in Kentucky actually launches a few months ahead of the plant here.

With that being our pilot plant, if you will, I'm still spending a fair amount of time with that team.

I still do a lot of travel there and, of course, that's still meetings around timelines and equipment installation timelines and getting the report outs from the different groups to make sure that everything is on schedule.

Some of that is still there.

When I'm here locally, that's where I'm conveying that information to my team.

I have my core leadership team on board now and each of them are assigned a process area within the plant.

It's a lot of information sharing with them and then they've started to form their teams with the number of people we've hired.

It's conveying that information to them so they can keep their teams updated.

Getting hiring reports from the HR team because, like you've mentioned, hiring 2,500 people doesn't happen overnight.

It doesn't happen with a lot of effort and collaboration.

It's getting those updates and understanding what can we do to help that effort, going to career fairs and different events locally to keep getting the visibility out there, doing things like this to keep the visibility and the excitement alive.

Then, of course, working closely with the teams at the site, the engineering teams who are overseeing the equipment installation to make sure that we're giving the proper support and understanding how we can take down the barriers because it all has to come together at the same time.

This is not an instant process by any stretch of the imagination.

Absolutely not.

It's really just managing all those different .. and getting the report outs from all the leaders of those teams to make sure that everything's progressing along.

Tracy, I'm always curious about a person who's in your area of responsibility.

When you were, say, 15, 16, 18 years old, it's not necessarily the thing that you're thinking in your mind, "I'm going to be a plant manager," if somebody says, "What do you want to do after graduation?"

"I want to be a plant manager for a game-changing industry."

How did this all develop for you?

What was your career goal when you first started?

I'm an engineer by degree.

I knew that I wanted to, and I did a co-op opportunity when I was in college.

I worked at a local manufacturing facility in my hometown.

That's where I knew that manufacturing is where I wanted to be.

Like you said, even knowing that, you can't envision exactly what that role is.

It's really just over the course of starting as an engineer and having mentors and having great opportunities with previous employers to explore and understand different areas of the process.

What really is my passion in the manufacturing space is building the teams and being a part of those teams.

That led me into operations leadership.

Then, of course, this role, I was just fortunate to have a little bit of past experience in electric vehicles and then, of course, a lot of automotive experience.

Being a Tennessean and wanting to be a part of something this big for our state is what led me to this specific role.

It's the old story of hire good people, good teams, and then let them do their jobs.

-Absolutely.

-That's the huge part of it.

For people who perhaps maybe have just joined us at this point, you mentioned this earlier but I want to stress this again because this is huge for the folks at home that might be interested in the employment aspect of it.

If you would be kind enough to, again, tell people how they can go about applying for potential jobs or find out what jobs are available at this stage of the game.

Yes.

The BlueOval SK website.

That's blueovalsk.com.

It has all the current job postings.

Then I mentioned there's also a newsletter where interested people can sign up for the newsletter to get periodic updates on different information about the site and specifically around jobs.

Is that available via email or, say, in the regular mail, the newsletter?

It's by email.

It's electronic.

Okay.

If you go online and you ask and you check that box, then you will begin to get the periodic information on that?

Yes.

That is .. and then we find out 2,500 jobs are available, that is the first thing that comes to mind because it is so crucial to continue to develop homegrown talent when we have that here.

I cannot begin to tell you how exciting this is to be able to see all of this unfold and develop.

In particular, just thinking about what economically, population-wise, whatever, it changes the face of so many areas here in our area.

It will.

Absolutely, it will.

I should have mentioned, while most of the jobs that will be available initially will be production operators, we intend to develop our internal talent.

Someone starts their career as a production operator.

There's opportunity to become supervisor, team manager.

That's the other really great thing about being part of something at this stage of the game, being on the ground floor, is there's so much personal career growth for people that may not be apparent just from the jobs that are available now.

Tracy Church, plant manager for BlueOval SK here in Haywood County.

Really, the tentacles reach out to all of West Tennessee.

We are so grateful for you spending your time with us today, and I hope you'll come back again and update us.

I would love to do that.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

I'm Steve Beverly, and remember that you can stream today's program and all local Channel 11 programs on the PBS app, the West Tennessee PBS YouTube channel, and on westtnpbs.org.

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