Ford Motor Co. announced a new capital investment program for its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, a painting operation it estimated as a $1-billion project. The project will begin later this year, to replace the current paint operations there.

The Kentucky Truck Plant is Ford’s largest and highest-revenue manufacturing plant, the site where it assembles its best-selling models like the F-Series pick-ups and Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.

Louisville is also where Ford is investing an estimated $2 billion to launch its new line of battery electric vehicles, based on a Universal EV Platform. Also, Ford is investing a similar amount of capital to convert a former EV battery plant at Glendale, Ken., to produce energy-storage systems.

The new painting operation will include dry-booth painting systems, which eliminate use of water and chemicals in the process, thereby reducing the environmental impact of the operation. “Upgraded technology in the new paint shop will deliver cleaner and more efficient paint quality, supporting continued production excellence with improved efficiency and advanced environmental sustainability,” according to Ford’s announcement.

It will install three wet painting and curing processes (eliminating extra drying booths), optimized ovens with minimal airflow and direct-drive blowers, high-efficiency Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTOs), and volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrators. Ford also expects energy savings by adopting new air-compressor and dryer technologies.

The new paining process also will use pretreatment steps in place of phosphate washing, which is seen as improving corrosion protection for vehicles.

According to Ford, the new painting process will optimize workflow and maximize production throughput for heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and higher-quality finishes on luxury SUVs.

While the construction schedule is expected to begin very soon, the automaker has not indicated an availability date for the new painting operation.