With each passing week, the ongoing global microchip shortage continues to force Ford to cut production at its U.S. and Canadian plants, as well as its recent decision to nix summer shutdowns. And now, the automaker has confirmed that it has informed its employees of more upcoming downtime on top of what was just announced last week.
These most recent cuts stemming from the global microchip shortage affect the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant, Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant, and Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant (both the Ford F-150 and Ford Transit sides), all of which will now close the weeks of April 19th and April 26th.
Additionally, the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant will only build Ford Super Duty chassis cabs and Medium Duty trucks those same weeks, while the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant will close the weeks of April 26th and May 3rd, with super shifts eliminated the weeks of May 8th, May 16th, May 22nd, May 29th, and May 31st.
In addition to rethinking its supply chain, Ford CEO Jim Farley also participated in a White House summit Monday with other automakers, chipmakers, President Joe Biden, and members of Biden’s staff addressing the global microchip shortage. In that meeting, Biden promised that both legislation addressing the issue, as well as congression funding to support production, were on the way.
The funding would come in addition to a proposed $50 billion dollar investment in semiconductor manufacturing and research included in Biden’s proposed infrastructure plan. Despite some, like Ford CEO Jim Farley saying that the chip shortage should be over by Q3, many analysts have recently stated that they believe it could go on at least through the end of the year, causing production shortages of two- to three-million vehicles around the globe.
We’ll have much more on this ongoing problem soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
The people who have ordered their f150 should be top of list seeing we have paid a deposit.
I ordered mine end of January and still have not herd a word. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand but we are still seeing trucks going on the lots.
I ordered a 2021 f150 limited January 19th. The dealership has no idea when the truck will arrive. Hoping someone will have a better answer than I don’t know. Thank you again.