Ford to resume F-150, Super Duty production
Ford said Wednesday it will resume production of its popular F-Series pickup trucks after a fire at a parts supplier forced the automaker to bring its assembly lines to a halt last week.
The company announced that F-150 production in Dearborn, Michigan, will begin to ramp back up on Friday, while production in Kansas City, Missouri, is expected to resume on Monday. Ford also plans to have Super Duty assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, up and running on Monday.
The production hiccup will cost Ford 12 cents to 14 cents per share in the second quarter, according to the company. Ford stood by its full-year earnings guidance of $1.45 to $1.70 per share.
The company previously said it would be able to make up for lost production over the course of the year. During a conference call with reporters, officials said that it will be hard to erase lost production completely but that the company’s factories can make up a lot of it.
“While the situation remains extremely dynamic, our teams are focused on returning our plants to full production as fast as possible,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of global operations, said in a statement. “The ramp-up time to full production is improving every day.”
A large fire at a Meridian Magnesium Products facility on May 2 created a shortage of die-cast parts used by Ford, General Motors and other automakers. The auto parts supplier has resumed making truck parts at the affected plant in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
The issue hit Ford the hardest. The company had to completely suspended production of the F-150, one of its most lucrative vehicles. It temporarily laid off about 7,600 workers as a result.
Super Duty trucks have continued to roll off assembly lines in Ohio despite the shutdown in Kentucky.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | FORD MOTOR CO. | 12.43 | -0.06 | -0.48% |
| GM | GENERAL MOTORS CO. | 44.86 | +0.19 | +0.43% |
| FCAU | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Ford said its dealers have sufficient inventories of F-Series trucks, the best-selling line of vehicles in America. At the time it suspended production, Ford had an 84 days’ supply.
Teams of workers from Ford and other companies removed 19 dies from the fire-damaged plant, moving one 87,000-pound die from Michigan to Nottingham, England. Meridian is now producing parts for the F-150 in both locations, with parts shipping from the U.K. until domestic operations return to normal. According to Ford, the teams were able to move and repair tooling ahead of schedule.