Filed under: Hirings/Firings, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford Not that we're cutting Ford any slack, but the automaker's plan to shrink itself both in sales and size is a smart move. It will mean lower sales and lots of layoffs, but right now the market isn't buying a big Ford. So news today of the automaker shuffling some shifts and delaying the restart of a plant, while not welcome news for the 2,500 employees affected, is the right thing to do. The reorganization involves the Chicago and Louisville assembly plants, which will both reduce production to one shift starting in the summer. The Ford Taurus, Taurus X, Mercury Sable and upcoming Lincoln MKS are all built in Chicago, while the Louisville plant assembles the Explorer, Sport Trac and Mercury Mountaineer. Curiously, the reduction of shifts will not affect the number of each model produced. It will basically allow Ford to build the same number of vehicles with less resources, i.e. labor. The other plants involved are Cleveland Engine Plant #1 and #2, which produce the 3.5L Duratec V6 and 3.0L, respectively. Engine Plant #2 will also switch to one shift this April, while Plant #1, which has been idle since May 2007, will not resume production this spring as intended, but rather sometime in Q4 of 2008. Fans of the 3.5L should not fret, however, as Ford's Lima, OH plant continues to churn out the big V6. As for the 2,500 affected employees, Ford is reminding them that retirement and buyout packages are still on the table if they don't want to deal with all this down time anymore. [Source: Ford, Photo by Scott Olson/Getty]Continue reading Ford shuffling production at four plants Permalink | Email this | Comments More...
