About Ford Motor Saline Stamping Plant Michigan

Facility Location and Operations

The Ford Motor Company Saline Stamping Plant sits in Saline, Michigan — a small city in Washtenaw County approximately 10 miles southwest of Ann Arbor. The facility has served as one of Ford’s key metal-forming operations in the upper Midwest, historically producing body panels, structural components, and metal-formed parts for Ford’s vehicle lineup.

The Saline plant is one of dozens of Ford and affiliated automotive facilities throughout Michigan where asbestos-containing materials were reportedly used extensively. Ford’s industrial footprint in the state — which includes the historic Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Chrysler Jefferson Assembly in Detroit, GM Hamtramck, Buick City in Flint, and Packard Electric in Warren — reflects decades of heavy industrial construction practices that placed asbestos-containing materials throughout facilities across southeastern Michigan and the Flint corridor. Workers who rotated between Ford plants or who were employed by outside contractors servicing multiple Michigan facilities may have accumulated asbestos-containing material exposure across more than one site.

Asbestos in Mid-Century Industrial Construction

Virtually every heavy industrial facility built or expanded during the mid-twentieth century incorporated asbestos-containing materials as standard construction components. The Saline plant underwent construction, expansion, and renovation across multiple decades — periods during which installation, maintenance, and disturbance of asbestos-containing materials may have created chronic occupational exposure risks for workers across numerous trades.

General Equipment at Ford Motor Saline Stamping Plant Michigan

The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.

Industrial Boilers View crosswalk › Process Piping View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk › Heat Exchangers View crosswalk › Cooling Equipment View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Michigan EGLE (Environment, Great Lakes & Energy) (Michigan EGLE) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.

No Michigan EGLE NESHAP abatement notifications have been identified for this facility in current public records. Per the framing above, absence of state-agency documentation should not be read as absence of asbestos — only as absence of a formal, regulated abatement event meeting reporting thresholds. Workers who recall encountering pipe insulation, block insulation, gaskets, or other asbestos-era construction materials at this facility may still have viable claims regardless of whether a state record exists.

Material Categories in Documented Records

The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Ford Motor Saline Stamping Plant Michigan

Asbestos exposure at the Saline Stamping Plant was not limited to a single trade. The nature of heavy industrial construction and maintenance placed dozens of occupations in proximity to asbestos-containing materials — both during original installation and during ongoing maintenance when those materials were disturbed.

Heat and Frost Insulators

Members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 and Asbestos Workers Local 25 carry one of the highest documented rates of asbestos-related disease of any trade in the industrial workforce. Workers at the Saline plant may have applied, removed, or repaired pipe insulation, boiler coverings, and oven insulation reportedly containing asbestos fibers — working in direct contact with friable asbestos-containing materials throughout their shifts, using products supplied by. Michigan insulation workers who rotated across multiple southeastern Michigan automotive plants may have accumulated compounding exposure across facilities.

If you are a retired insulator or the family member of one and have received a mesothelioma diagnosis, Michigan’s three-year statute of limitations under MCL § 600.5805(2) may already be running. Call today.

Pipefitters and Steamfitters

Pipefitters and steamfitters who installed, maintained, and repaired the plant’s steam and hot-water systems — many organized through Pipefitters Local 636 — may have worked directly alongside asbestos-insulated pipe systems, cut pipe and removed asbestos-containing insulation to access joints, worked in pipe trenches and tunnels where asbestos fibers accumulated in enclosed air, and handled asbestos-containing rope packing and gasket materials from suppliers including Members who rotated between the Saline plant and other Ford or automotive supplier facilities in the region may have experienced cumulative exposure across multiple sites.

A mesothelioma diagnosis after years of pipefitting work at Michigan automotive plants demands immediate legal attention. Michigan’s statute of limitations runs from the date of diagnosis — not the date of exposure. Every day without legal counsel is a day closer to losing your right to recover compensation.

Boilermakers

Boilermakers who installed, maintained, and repaired the plant’s industrial boilers may have faced some of the most concentrated asbestos exposure on the jobsite. Their work involved stripping old asbestos-containing insulation from boiler surfaces, cleaning boiler components in confined spaces with poor ventilation, and applying replacement insulating materials that may have themselves contained asbestos fibers — tasks capable of releasing high quantities of airborne asbestos in enclosed areas. The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers has documented higher-than-baseline occupational mesothelioma rates among its membership. Michigan boilermakers whose employment spanned multiple Ford or automotive plants face compounded exposure histories.

Three years from diagnosis. Not a day more. Boilermakers diagnosed with mesothelioma or asbestosis need to contact a mesothelioma lawyer Michigan today.

Electricians

Electricians who installed or repaired wiring, switchgear, and panel systems throughout the facility may have encountered asbestos-containing electrical insulation from and, and may have accumulated bystander exposure while working alongside insulators and other trades disturbing asbestos-containing materials nearby.

Millwrights and Maintenance Mechanics

Millwrights and maintenance mechanics who serviced, overhauled, and repaired the plant’s production equipment — presses, conveyors, hydraulic systems — may have disturbed asbestos-containing gaskets, packing, and insulation components as a routine part of their work. This trade often worked throughout the facility across multiple equipment systems, creating diffuse exposure potential that is well-documented in asbestos litigation.

Production and Assembly Workers

Production workers stationed near presses,

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Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Michigan law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 3 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (MCL § 600.5805(13)). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (MCL § 600.5852). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.

The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.

Practical first steps

  1. Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Michigan experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.

Asbestos-Related Diseases

Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.

Mesothelioma

A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.

Asbestosis

A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for compensation under most trust schedules and civil claims.

Lung Cancer

Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.

Other Recognized Diseases

Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.

If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.

Data Sources

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.