Nemak Essex Aluminum Plant (Windsor, Ontario)

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Opened in 1981 by Ford of Canada to produce aluminum cylinder heads for engines produced at the nearby Ford Essex Engine Plant, the 53 ac., 501,369 sq. ft. facility made as many as 3.7 million cylinder heads a year for the U.S. and Canada and at one time employed 950 workers. Products included 2.5 L and 3.0 L V6 cylinder heads for Mustang, Econoline Van and Ford F 150.

In 2000 Ford entered into a joint venture with Nemak, a subsidiary of Monterrey Mexico based conglomerate Alfa SA, which saw majority ownership and control pass to Nemak. By 2009 Ford's ownership stake was reduced to 7%.

The plant was shut down in February 2009 with the loss of 600 jobs with Nemak citing industry cost reduction pressures and global capacity reorganization. This followed a significant expansion of Nemak's worldwide production capacity in 2007 with the acquisition of Teksid Aluminum and Hydro Aluminum in the U.S. and Europe, to become the world's largest producer of metal castings for automotive engines with facilities with plants on 4 continents. The Essex plant became the victim of a consolidation of excess capacity.