By Joseph White
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (N:F) said on Tuesday it will modernize and consolidate its sprawling Dearborn, Michigan, engineering and headquarters facilities over the next decade into two Silicon Valley-style campuses.
The auto company plans to move about 30,000 employees now housed in 70 buildings, some of which were built in the 1950s. The company will rebuild or upgrade 7.5 million square feet of office space in the transition.
One location will be focused on engineering, research, technology and vehicle development and the other centered around its headquarters building in Dearborn.
The company declined to say how much it plans to invest in the makeover.
Ford released artists' renderings of proposed workspaces with plants, contemporary furniture, open office designs and bright lighting.
New buildings will have broad expanses of glass and be surrounded by grass and trees. The new campuses will be "a walkable community with paths, trails and covered walkways," Ford said, and include autonomous vehicles, on-demand shuttles, ebikes, new onsite services for workers and faster wireless internet.
Such amenities are already found at the offices of big technology companies with which Ford competes for talent.
Ford's Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields and other Ford officials presented an overview of the company's plans for its Dearborn locations on a broadcast streamed on YouTube on Tuesday.
In that broadcast, Joe Hinrichs, head of Ford in the Americas, said that the makeover will not affect output at the Dearborn Truck Plant, which makes the profitable F-150 pickup trucks.