JG Kern Enterprises plans to close and cut all 156 jobs after Ford ended F-150 Lightning contracts and reportedly moved work to India, another hit to Michigan manufacturing.
Ford Authority reported that JG Kern Enterprises in Sterling Heights, Michigan, expects to permanently shut its doors and lay off all 156 of its employees after the automaker discontinued the all-electric F-150 Lightning and canceled dealings with the longtime supplier.
The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, the legal notice required before large layoffs, with the state of Michigan. In that filing, Kern pointed to “unforeseeable business circumstances.” Ford was its biggest customer.
Kern has made powertrain components since 1967. A source familiar with the situation said its production lines are still running for now, only to finish the existing Ford contract before the lights go out.
Back in December 2025, Ford announced the all-electric F-150 Lightning was going away. The company said a new Lightning with an extended-range electric powertrain would eventually take its place. That shift left suppliers tied to the pure battery version exposed.
The Detroit Free Press flagged the damage landing on Kern. Related coverage of supplier shutdowns and job losses has tracked the same fallout across Michigan’s auto base.
Ford did not stop at ending the Lightning program. Reporting describes the company canceling business with Kern and moving that work to companies based in India and other U.S. states. An unnamed source said the choice came down to money, lower labor costs overseas.
Ford declined to comment on the supplier-cost account. The company offered a broader defense of how it picks partners.
Ford spokesman Dave Tovar framed sourcing as a hard-nosed operations call.
"Our sourcing decisions consider quality, delivery, financial stability and operational risk so we can keep our plants operating and delivering vehicles to customers,"
Tovar went further on jobs.
"Ford is committed to American manufacturing and jobs. Reliable suppliers are essential to protecting production and the thousands of American jobs that depend on our plants operating."
That pledge lands beside a reported move of Kern’s work toward India. Sterling Heights workers who built parts for Ford for decades are the ones losing paychecks. The plants Tovar cites stay open; the supplier that fed them does not.
Readers following the discontinued truck have also watched used Lightning demand climb after new sales ended, a reminder the vehicle found buyers even as Ford walked away from the pure-electric version.
Kern’s WARN notice covers every employee on the roster. One hundred fifty-six people. A firm that survived nearly sixty years of auto-cycle swings could not survive the sudden end of Lightning-related volume and the loss of its main customer.
Ford has kept reshaping the F-150 family after the Lightning decision, including a broader 2027 F-150 overhaul that leans on features and partnerships far from the pure battery experiment.
No public filing in the available reporting names the Indian firms or the other U.S. plants that gained the work. Ford has not confirmed or denied the Kern-specific cancellation beyond its general sourcing statement and its refusal to address the cost story. The effective closure date and full WARN text were not detailed in the initial account.
What is clear is the sequence. Ford ended the all-electric Lightning. Kern lost the business. A Michigan supplier that dated to 1967 prepared to lock the doors. Jobs that paid American workers are the first concrete cost on the ledger.
Ford’s wider electric lineup still draws scrutiny, including a new low-price electric pickup launch even as its EV division posts heavy losses. Corporate strategy papers do not list the names of the 156 people in Sterling Heights. The WARN filing does.
When the pure-electric bet shrinks, the pink slips show up first on the factory floor, and the work still finds a cheaper address overseas.