As this 1999 New York Times article illustrates, Ford's Wayne factory was once Ford's golden goose. The factory cranked-out about $3.7b profit per year building Expeditions and Navigators. Tempus fugit. Nine years later, Yahoo! Business reports that the golden goose will be put into a cryogenic freeze for at least nine weeks, starting June 23rd. The unusually long "temporary shut down" could well become permanent. The Michigan Truck plant builds the Expedition and Navigator. According to the Kansas City Star, "Expedition sales are down 31 percent for the first five months of the year, and Navigator sales are off 22 percent, according to Autodata Corp. Ford had a 124-day supply of Navigators and a 100-day inventory of Expeditions." It seems safe to say that production for the 2008 model year will be over by the time Michigan Truck shuts down next Monday. If future production of these barges is ever needed–a highly doubtful proposition– one of Ford's underutilized pickup truck factories could take over. As for costs savings, United Auto Workers get 95 percent of their pay while the factory is "off-line." This "right sizing" an expensive business, but Ford had to do something to shut off the production spigot.
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The gutting of the metro Detroit area continues.
Wonder how long the assemblymen (and women) get 95% of their wage?
That’s got to be expensive. And it only gives the workers a false sense of security. In reality, these folks need to move on to greener pastures elsewhere (before the other greener pastures are underwater like Iowa, or a recession/depression sets in).
Will the last person out of Michigan please turn out the lights?
BTW does everyone realize what this plant built starting late in 1957 through mid 1958?
The senior Edsel Corsair and Citation lines (and the body-shared Mercury cars). The smaller Edsel Ranger and Pacer (and also Villager and Bermuda station wagon lines) were based on the bigger of two Ford body shells introduced for 1957, and built in multiple plants.
My father worked in Wayne from 1954 through 1958 when he was laid off due to the recession. He was rehired a few months later to build T-bird over at the Wixom plant before saying to heck with building cars.
Back then, when you got laid off, you scrambled for work just like he did. Labored at a job pouring runaways at Metro Detroit Airport. Sold his brother’s maple syrup from northern Michigan, door to door in the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Detroit areas.
I’m proud of my dad. We never went without, he was a hard worker, now retired and 77.
Well at least the workers feel no pain from this, socialists everywhere must be proud. All this does is give the dealers a break and maybe save a little energy here or there. As long as you’re paying workers, and even worse not making profit from their labor, the bleeding will continue unabated. How much political money will be taken from our wallets and forked over to these poor workers so they can maintain their lifestyles at the expense of our own?
The dealer I pass daily going to work has trucks 3 rows deep. It’s sad to see so many colors and varieties on the lot unloved. I wonder how good a deal I could get on one of the particularly thirsty models.
I would never buy one but it would be interesting to play the game for a while and see how low they would go. I bet 40% off would be a good starting point.
They’ve started advertising employee pricing again – last night during the NBA Finals, I saw a commercial for employee pricing on F-150 and F-250 trucks. You can get one for much less than that, of course.
Maybe they should start making steam locomotives.
menno, thanks for the interesting historical insights. Ford is said to have lost a quarter-billion on the short-lived Edsel. I suppose that figure doesn’t include the cost of the Wayne plant, because it was capital outlay and the plant was used for other purposes (seems like it built Mustangs for a while, as I recall).
It wouldn’t surprise me if GM lost more on the Reatta or the Allante than Ford did on the Edsel.
The “95% of wages” deal sure sounds sweet. Seems like workers would be clamoring for temporary shutdowns to collect the equivalent of vacation pay. A nice break to paint the house, etc. Does the company continue to pay for insurance and retirement credit? Does Michigan consider the 95% people to be unemployed and allow them to collect unemp bennies on top of the 95%?
Do you really think the UAW would allow a lapse in benefits when they shutter a plant? Come on now, this is the UAW we are talking about. If it was that easy the D2.801 would be shuttering plants a lot quicker.
UAW types get full boat for 2 years when laid off. Then there is the infamous jobs bank where playing bridge replaces building trucks.
When gas hits 5 a gallon and diesel knocks on 6 you are looking at the end of the truck as casual transportation.
GS650G:
UAW types get full boat for 2 years when laid off. Then there is the infamous jobs bank where playing bridge replaces building trucks.
Are you certain? I thought the new labor agreement was supposed to end this practice.
When exactly do they become eligible for unemployment? I assume it’s once the 95% pay stops because I’m sure that they are considered employed after some fashion through that time period. If I were planning on retiring within a couple of years anyway, a plant shut down like this would seem perfect for me. I get paid for doing nothing until I retire. It’s almost like being an executive.
I know the dodge/chrysler dealer near me has a lot FULL of trucks. They also bought/leased an additional lot that (used to be a ford dealership — now out of business) is crammed 5? 6? 8? rows deep with trucks.
They wanted $14.7k (sticker $24k before taxes) OTD for a dodge ram 1500 3.7L V6. Too expensive for what I’d use it for even if it’s 50% off. If they want me to cut them a check for sub $10k, I’d seriously consider it….but not for $15k.
Wayne, MI is the plant where my 67 Ford Galaxie XL convertible was built.
I wonder if there are any old timers left who bolted my old girl together.
It won’t be long before we start to see SUV nameplates get the axe.
Perhaps an SUV Deathwatch series is in order? We already know the Jeep Commander and GM Trailblazer/9-X, etc. are goners…
Though not really a Ford comment, I noticed the local GMC dealer has a banner out front that says “up to $12K off and 0% interest”…
Ouch…
On the other hand my Nissan Titan friend is restricting his miles. Costing him $160 a week to drive his truck. Now only to work and back – ONLY. That’s $80 a week. He is still unhappy. Truck is nearly new so he’s not going to want to get rid of it.
Michigan Truck seems to be the most precariously perched of the plants under fire. There are supposedly two possibilities for it that don’t include closure:
1) Build the F-100 starting in late 2010 as well as an SUV built on the same shrunken frame (with Ecoboost, many are thinking mid-to-high 20s for highway mileage for the 275hp/280tor model, so it has a shot).
2) Tool it up for C1-2 production starting in 2010 (Focus, Escape (Kuga), et al), although the Cuautitlan plant was supposed to support the overflow C1-2 capacity along with B production. Although, Ford could be thinking of bringing additional B-models to NA and consolidating some production from SA.
They really only need three truck plants at current sales (Rouge, Kentucky Truck, Kansas City) and it’s not clear if the F-100 will boost sales significantly enough to justify the fourth plant. But, as they say, we shall see…
“United Auto Workers get 95 percent of their pay while the factory is “off-line.””
From the way I understand the UAW pay structure, the workers get 95% of their take home pay. That’s after taxes and insurance all the other stuff they take out.
So it’s not as great as it seems, although I would still love it if my job offered me that.