The Freep reports that Ford is allocating an extra 250 workers to its Dearborn plant in Michigan. Why? Well, because the Dearborn plant makes the F-150 and because sales are rising. Ford can’t make them fast enough. According to Autodata, Ford’s share of the pick-up market has risen 4.2 percent this year. This is great news, Ford is getting more Americans back into work, right? Not quite.
Did you notice I wrote “ALLOCATING an extra 250 workers” and not “HIRING an extra 250 workers”? This is because these aren’t new positions. The extra staff working on the F-150 production are coming from the Flat Rock joint venture plant between Ford and Mazda. In July, they cut the shifts down from two to one. Which meant they had an excess of staff. An excess of staff in one plant and a deficiency in another plant nearby? Even the stupidest MBA can figure that one out. According to the Freep’s article, this shift in workers was possible because Ford switched to a production schedule that included “tag relief” workers. A tag relief worker is someone who fills in for another worker who goes on a break. Now couple that with a staggered break time schedule and this means that the plant can carry production more efficiently since, theoretically, the line doesn’t have to stop.
When I read this article my first thought was “Good for Ford. Well done!” but something didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t put my finger on it until I read the final paragraph. Doug Scott, Ford’s truck marketing manager, said that F-150 sales volumes will carry on increasing as the industry rebounds.
Hmmm. What say you? Will it or will it not?
Well, good for Ford. Not much of a Blue Oval fan but I can be happy for them. I guess the new Ram sales have really hit a wall. Making a light duty-junk powertrain truck with the ground clearance of a CUV seems to be biting Chrysler where it counts.
don’t forget spring coils
Though in theory, if Ford had not found a place to allocate those workers to, those workers would probably be either looking for a new job right about now, or waiting for the “come on back” phonecall at home while enjoying their layoffs. So that worked out rather well for everyone didn’t it?
Yes, Ford’s truck sales will increase. As long as they don’t jack up the prices too much, Ford’s lineup of new engines will boost Ford’s market share as much as is possible within the brand-loyal truck market.
I’m sure that those workers from Flint Rock would much rather be “reallocated” to the busy Dearborn plant than they would enjoy being laid off. I’m not sure what is so spooky about putting people to work building the products which are in demand. Flint Rock’s problem is Mazda. Mazda is an also ran in the US market and shows no signs of becoming anything other than an also ran.
As far as the F150’s prospects, the economy really is continuing to improve. Unfortunately, it isn’t creating jobs fast enough to make a big dent in unemployment, especially since governments at most levels are laying people off faster than the private sector can put them to work.
The population of the US continues to grow, and eventually housing construction will recover. So yes, I do foresee further truck sales gains being likely in the months and years to come.
F150 is by far the strongest brand name in trucks. The threat from Nissan and Toyota has been completely beaten back, GM has to deal with the Government Motors moniker, and Dodge is still a struggling third place player in trucks just like it has been for countless decades.
Hey, John…
Wondering why you call Mazda an also ran?
It far out sells Audi. I think, if I remember correctly, it sells more than double what Audi does.
Maybe close to even with BMW.
While not on hormones like Hyundai, this seems more than you say.
If I am reading right as well, lots of news coming out shows some important changes next year.
Comparing Mazda’s sales volumes to luxury car brands is misleading. Up until they completely left the US market Isuzu outsold Ferrari on a unit basis, but so what.
Mazda is a mass market brand which sells at niche market volumes.
What say me?
Fleet sales do wonders….and make an automaker look so good on the surface…
So you would rather an automaker survive on taxpayer money ALONE? You are a smart one Silvy. Troll some place else. How much does Government Motors and Crapsler pay you?
Rental sales are the only ‘bad’ fleet sales, and even then it can be said that a sale to a rental lot is better than no sale at all.
The F-Series trucks have huge followings in commercial and fleet business because they are the best trucks on the market. With the most 250K+ mile truck registrations still on the road, and close to 40 years as the best selling vehicle in America, the F-Series has more than proven its worth.
In addition, even with a lot of commercial business, the F-Series has the best resale value in the pickup market. So yes, the fleet business does make it look good on the surface, as well as below the surface for that matter.
The F-Series trucks have huge followings in commercial and fleet business because they are the best trucks on the market.
Says the sales person…
I have driven many fleet level Ford trucks…they are FAR from the best. I regularly drive a 2010 Super Doody…and it is a SAD excuse for a “truck”…so big, yet only really capable of drinking fuel at a clip of about 8 MPG. But the price was right (IE: CHEAP)
Ford is doing a real good job keeping their trucks ahead of the pack, with a wide variety of engines and configurations. Other than the Raptor (One of The World’s Two Best Cars), I feel GM’s AWD make more sense in a light duty, personal use, 4×4; but then again, perhaps this realignment indicates people finally realize light duty, personal use, gigantic trucks are a bit of an oxymoron. (Except for the Raptor, of course, where it makes all the sense in the world…..)
Every time I walk past a neighbor’s tiny little Toyota and read the 1Ton sticker on the back, condominium sized half tons just seem sooo silly. Except for possibly outrunning cops on Humboldt logging roads with high value to weight greenpacks in the bed ( Raptor ), what is it that people haul that requires so much space, yet weighs so little?
I can believe Ford’s increasing dominance of the light truck segment, and Gov’t Motors’ decline in same. The GMT900s are really no match for the F-Series, especially now that the latter has some real engine choices.
What I can’t get over is how increasingly irrelevant Dodge is. The trucks aren’t great, and they wear too quickly (as seen in the recent TTAC review) but they’re not awful. If anything, the recent restyle seems to have utterly tanked demand for Rams. Or is it all due to uneasiness about Fiasler?
I guess the economy is picking up, as I’m seeing several new vehicles around my neighborhood, and almost all of them are half ton pickups, or larger SUVs. I have to admit, that if I was walking (And doing almost anything else better than I am right now), I would probably be driving one myself. I drove a friend’s new Ram last week and liked it, a lot. I’ve owned minivans, SUVs large and small, cars and pickups, and the pickups are the only ones I really miss day by day. I don’t miss buying the gas they guzzled every week or so, but other than that, I have nothing bad to say about them. With one exception, they were all rock solid dependable, confortable, and got me through winter snows with ease. But as long as my knees and back are as messed up as they are, I’m driving a car. In two or three years though, a truck may be back in my garage. I’ve never owned, or really wanted to own a Ford, but an F-150 with the big motor sounds like fun.
The lesson here is that Ford, or any other automaker for that matter, needs to remain flexible and have solid plans in place for dealing with changing market dynamics. Assuming that the emergency is almost over, and that we’ll be back to business as usual (usual being 2007), ala Doug Scott, is a big mistake. Fact is that we’re only one Middle Eastern war away from catastrophe. All that’s needed is for one extremist mental-case in Tel Aviv, Tehran, or Damascus to set match to fuse and hello $10/gal gas. I’m sure F-150’s will be flying off the lots under those circumstances.
Dumb spin on this one in order to create some shock value. Workers moved from underutilised plant to busy one. This is bad, why exactly?