Ohio Assembly Plant is located in the eastern end of Lorain County in three communities: Avon Lake, Sheffield Lake and Sheffield Village. The plant is approximately one mile south of Lake Erie and approximately 20 miles west of Cleveland, Ohio.

The facility was originally built in 1946 by the Fruehauf Company and was utilized to build over-the-road trailers until 1972 when it was purchased by Ford Motor Company. 

At that time the plant consisted of 1,000,000 square feet under one roof on 242 acres. With three smaller expansions in the 1970's and 1980's and with the expansion associated with the 1992 Ford Econoline and the 1993 Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest, the plant has now grown to 3.7 million square feet on 419 acres.

In 1988, Ford Motor Company and Nissan Motor Corporation announced an association to design, engineer and build a front-wheel-drive, multi-purpose minivan, the Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest. Production began April 13, 1992, after completion of a $900 million expansion project. A second shift was added in November, 1992. The Ohio Assembly Plant is the sole producer of the Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest.

In addition to manufacturing the Villager and Quest, the Ohio Assembly Plant also builds and paints bodies for the Econoline and Club Wagons. The painted Econoline bodies are then transported by truck to the Lorain Assembly Plant in 55 foot long trailers pulled by F-7000 diesel tractors, where the final assembly process is completed. The method has been effect since the plant started production in 1975.

The plant produced a total of 5,748,627 Econoline Vans through the end of 2001 model year. The plant has also produced 963,521 Villager/Quest through the end of the 2001 model year.

Ford Motor Company, the United Auto Workers, and Government Officials announced on May 1, 2002 that the company will start production of the popular Ford Escape at Ohio Assembly Plant in summer 2003. This will add at least 45,000 units of Escape production, in addition to the 260,000 units of production for Escape and Mazda Tribute at Kansas City Assembly Plant which is represented by United Auto Workers Local 249. The Ford Escape has been one of the best-selling small SUVs in the U.S. since its introduction in 2000.