Ford cuts summer break, will produce 40,000 more cars in North America

Automaker: ‘Requiring more capacity from our plants is a good problem to have.’

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The rebound of the American auto industry continues with the announcement May 8 that Ford Motor Company will cut its summer furlough by one week to allow for expanded production of cars. That follows a similar move by Chrysler Group LLC.

Ford plans to produce nearly 40,000 additional vehicles this summer by idling its six assembly plants for just one week. Overall, the company will cut furloughs at all 13 North American plants to just one week.

“We are working most of our North America plants at maximum capacity and we are adding production shifts in three of our assembly plants this month alone,” said Jim Tetreault, vice president of North America Manufacturing. “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.”

The Ford assembly plants taking just one week of summer shutdown in 2012 include Chicago Assembly, Dearborn Truck, Kentucky Truck, Louisville Assembly, Michigan Assembly and Kansas City Assembly.

The Detroit News reported that Chrysler Group LLC cancelled its summer furlough  at its Detroit's Jefferson North plant, the Toledo Supplier Park, the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois and Chrysler's plant in Toluca, Mexico. 

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120508/AUTO0102/205080421/1121/auto0104/Ford-to-boost-summer-production--cut-shutdown-time

- Edited by Chris Vavra, Plant Engineering, www.plantengineering.com