According to tradition, Ford Motor Company witnesses two weeks of idle production during the middle of the year. This period of rest has been given the title “summer shutdown” but for 2012, it’s going to be much shorter than before. With sights locked on a particular production output, the Blue Oval will cut the shutdown in half so they can reach their desired goal. Several facilities, including six assembly plants will see a quiet period of just one week so that annual production can increase by 400,000 units.
“Requiring more capacity from our plants is a good problem to have and having the flexibility to add a week of production in our plants goes a long way toward solving it,” said Jim Tetreault, vice president of North America Manufacturing for Ford. In total, 13 facilities will witness the shorter shutdown. According to Ford, production capacity has already reached its limits at most plants meaning two full weeks of idle time simply wouldn’t be in the cards. Of the plants affected, Chicago Assembly, Dearborn Truck, Kentucky Truck, Louisville Assembly, Michigan Assembly and Kansas City Assembly will continue to work strong to pump out as many vehicles as possible. This decision comes just a short time after Chrysler LLC announced a similar move which goes to show, the Americans are running as strong as ever.
Source: Ford
