WardsAuto.com reports that Ford is following up on its pledge to cut fourth quarter production by, wait for it, 211k units. That’s a 35 percent drop from year-ago manufacturing levels. To implement the cuts, FoMoCo is “temporarily” idling nine plants:Louisville, KY; St. Paul, MN; Oakville and St. Thomas, ON, Canada; Kansas City, MO; Avon Lake, OH; Flat Rock and Wayne, MI; and Hermosillo, Mexico. In terms of the who what when where and for how long and how much longer than normal, and whether or not people are getting paid to work (jobs bank-wise), Ford spokesfolk Angie Kozleski was slightly… vague. “In terms of down weeks, some may have been scheduled and some are new,” says Kozleski. “But we’ll continue to adjust production capacity to demand.” True enough, but it’s not the most reassuring thing a spinmeister has ever said.
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Hey, at least they are idling the plants instead of piling up cars like Chrysler did.
Mullaly seems to be willing to drop the hammer when he needs to. Now if he can only figure out how to get folks in the front doors of the dealers, he may be on to something…
“Temporaily idling plants” there is that “temporary” word again. In the letter TTAC just posted from GM to dealers, it stated GM is seeking “temprorary” help from the federal government. Things are so bad, everything is temporary now, except apparently the management of the companies.
Sure it’s “temporary”.
Honestly, I see some of these plants staying idle on an extended basis. I can’t envision a realistic scenario where demand for new automobiles returns to or surpasses prior peaks. I think that demand was a bubble, similar to and influenced by the credit and housing bubbles.
But it is temporary. Eventually, the plants start operating again. There is still demand, just not enough to support full-steam-ahead mode. For years, Ford just produced and dumped. Now that they do things the right way, you still aren’t happy…
Even if Ford is paying its workers to sit on their butts, at least they aren’t paying for the materials to build the cars. They aren’t paying dealers to take them. And they won’t have to pay consumers more to take them. The labor equation here is not the worst part. Mulally has finally figured that out.
I really don’t see how this “temporarily” relates to your GM “temporarily.” GM’s is all about failing to manage themselves well. Ford’s is about proper management of their supply-chain in a market that is down 30% over the last two months. 35% decline over last year? Completely inline.
Wait a second…
They make the Focus at the Wayne plant. I thought that was the one Ford model that was selling recently?
Did the polish rub off on the fake side vents already?
If congress believes this bailout is about saving jobs then there’s gonna be a rude awakening when GM gets the deal done and before the ink is dry on the check the axe starts falling.
There’s going to be not just “temporary” cutbacks but a ton of plant closures.
Ford has more class than GM, the cut backs are being anounced already.
I don’t know about the rest of the plants, but I can pretty much guarantee that St. Thomas will be un-idled sometime in the near future. They make the panther cars there, and while there’s a small (if non-existant) retail market, cops and cabbies still need cars. Sure, ST, might only be one shift, but it’s better than nothing.
This looks to me like Mullaly et cie anticipating the public’s wait and see attitude. I’d like to wait and see what the Euro Fords end up looking like after they’re Americanized. Softer suspensions, wider seats, and no Diesel options pull pages from the failure playbook. If they can they spend a little time surprising us, I boldly predict that these idled plants will once again be very busy.
That’s right, bold moves! (I crack myself up.)
– Your old pal Bob
CommanderFish:
Nothing is selling well, big or small, Ford or Honda, Focus or Civic. Also, fake side vents are not a feature on the 2009 models, so yes, they were rubbed out (off). Everybody is holding their breath until first quarter 2009.
Ford is at least small enough with 4 brands (worldwide! not counting Mazda) to turn the ship quickly. GM with at least 12 brands worldwide is only able to drop a new car here and there for the brands. New Malibu – drip, new Aura, Astra, Sky – drip drip drip, new LaCrosse – drip. While the rest of each brand’s lineup rots. GM still hasn’t integrated its operation into a global unit. There are still world cars that are rebadged for every market except the US and the US cars, which are similar but not the same.
You can try and spin this as a negative, but really, this is Ford being smart and not flooding its dealers with models that aren’t selling quickly. Its better that they do this instead of over-producing and having thousands and thousands of extra units just sitting on dealer lots like Chrysler and GM.
@Your old pal Bob :
They won’t be americanized. Everything in the Euro Fiesta is coming here, from the seats to the tail pipe. They’re not screwing them up like they have done so often in the past.
Droid: I believe the front end of the Fiesta (and most if not all the Euro Fords) has to be reworked structurally to meet the tougher US frontal crash test standards. Could be wrong though.
More evidence Ford is the most observant of the Detroit automakers and is (GASP!) cutting production to adjust to demand levels.
@benders
Nope. NCAP standards are actually more stringent now than NHTSA’s, and this car was engineered from the very start to be able to be sold worldwide so that Ford didn’t have to make costly changes for different markets.
As for whether or not these folks are in the “jobs bank”, my understanding is when layoffs occur, the employees go on government unemployment benefits first, and only after that runs out, do they go into the “jobs bank”. This type of temporary layoffs usually don’t last long enough for the employees to run out of unemployment benefits, assuming they are truely temporary.
So, yes, they will be paid not to work, but the government is paying them, not Ford (or the government via a bailout paid to Ford, natch).