Inside the training room for Flex-N-Gate's new Detroit plant

Auto parts giant Flex-N-Gate Corp. has received more than 16,300 applications for about 500 positions the company plans to fill at the manufacturing plant it's constructing on Detroit's east side to stamp and mold parts for the new Ford Ranger pickup truck.

Company officials have been swamped with applications as they have prioritized hiring Detroiters, specifically residents of the neighborhood where the new plant is based just west of Van Dyke Avenue in Detroit's I-94 Industrial Park.

With a median annual household income of $21,372 and about 49 percent of residents living in poverty, the area is one of the poorest areas of Detroit, which is itself the poorest big city in the country, according to census data.

Flex-N-Gate company officials would not discuss the company's wage scale, but applicants said they were advertising entry-level wages of $13 per hour, with higher wages based on experience and 40-cent raises after a probationary period.

"There's a lot of people who need jobs, and Flex-N-Gate will be good for them," said Edward Parker, 35, who was hired to work at the plant and lives in a nearby neighborhood. "It's a good opportunity. The wage is going to be what people are really interested in."

But the sheer volume of new jobs has garnered attention of workers as the 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is the largest newly built auto parts plant in Detroit in 20 years.

The plant will have metal stamping presses and injection molding machines. Work is beginning with stamping presses with injection molding slated to go into place later this year.

Flex-N-Gate owner Shahid Khan has said he pursued the new 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Detroit at the behest of Ford Motor Co., and the automaker's executive chairman, Bill Ford Jr., who has signaled an interest in re-establishing Ford's connection to the city where it was founded 115 years ago.

The Urbana, Ill.-based auto supplier plans to begin production of parts for Ford by October and has started hiring its first groups of production employees who are going through a city-funded training program at Focus: Hope's Machinist Training Institute on Oakman Boulevard.

In sifting through the 16,300-plus applicants, Flex-N-Gate also has prioritized individuals who have two or more years of continuous work experience and have 313 and 734 area code phone numbers that indicate they likely live in Wayne County, said Karrie Szalony, director of human resources at Flex-N-Gate's Warren stamping plant.

"Even if it's not auto-related [work], I want to ensure they're a reliable employee," Szalony said. "We can teach you the auto skills."

But with a tight labor market for experienced workers, Flex-N-Gate also has begun interviewing automotive parts production workers facing an impending layoff at Integrated Manufacturing and Assembly in Highland Park, Szalony said.

Integrated Manufacturing and Assembly, a seat supplier and joint venture of Lear Corp. and Comer Holdings LLC, informed state officials in March that it would permanently lay off 127 manufacturing employees by May 3.

"The market is so tight for talent, that where you can find it, you're lucky to find it," Szalony said.

Approximately 6,948 of Flex-N-Gate's 16,370 applicants — or 42 percent — listed a 313 area code phone number, indicating they likely live in or near Detroit, according to human resources data Flex-N-Gate shared with Crain's.

More than half of the total applicants — 8,442 — applied for production jobs, with just 183 coming from within the 48213 ZIP code that covers the neighboring residential area.

Flex-N-Gate received another 138 applications for jobs in skilled trades, management and professional positions from the plant's ZIP code among a pool of 7,928 applicants in those job categories requiring more formal education and training, according to company data.

The location of the plant along corridors serviced by existing Detroit and suburban bus transportation lines also may be driving some of the interest from applicants who don't have cars.

"So many of the manufacturing jobs are outside of the bus lines, because they're so far out in [suburban Detroit]," said Anthony Franklin Sr., 53, of Eastpointe, Mich.

Franklin was hired into the second cohort of trainees with previous auto parts and materials-handling experience in jobs at Android Industries and Lear Corp. He hopes to work his way into a skilled trade position.

"Everybody is excited because it's new," Franklin said of the plant. "We're the groundbreakers and get the opportunity to set the pace."

The Detroit Employment Solutions Corp., the city's workforce-development agency, has budgeted $150,000 to fund Focus: Hope's training of Flex-N-Gate workers, DESC spokesman Robin Johnston said.

The second class of 24 trainees finished a weeklong training course last week.

Focus: Hope's training program centers on critical thinking and problem-solving activities designed to sort out which applicants have transferable skills, said Bernard Thompson, a workforce readiness instructor for the nonprofit organization.

"This week is designed for you to demonstrate and for me to upscale you to the point where Flex-N-Gate thinks you're the kind of employee they think they're going to be to move forward their company with," Thompson told last week's group during a Monday morning classroom session.

Nick Proctor, director of manufacturing for Flex-N-Gate, stopped into the Focus: Hope class last week to address the group of new hires.

Proctor said the parts they will make for Ford will go into the new 2019 Ford Ranger pickup, which the Dearborn automaker plans to assemble at a retooled Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne.

Ford has set an Oct. 22 target date for starting production of the Ranger; Flex-N-Gate has set an Oct. 1 date to start producing parts for Ford.

At Focus: Hope, Proctor surveyed the classroom of new hires, asking who has previous experience working in automotive or manufacturing plants.

Franklin told Proctor he previously operated a Hi-Lo forklift.

"So you've got some fork-truck driving background? We need some good ones," Proctor told Franklin. "We're having trouble finding them right now. So that might be your first job."

Proctor said hiring from the pool of applicants would slow down until July and August when "it will really start to ramp up pretty fast" as the plant's stamping presses and injection molding machines come online.

"I've been through this a few times with new plants and the first 50 to 100 employees are the most critical," Proctor said. "You set the culture for the next 300 or 400 that are coming after you. So it's really, really important that we get it off to a good start with everybody working together and working hard."