The past four decades have seen the Ford F-150 at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to pickup truck sales with the Super Duty models close behind.
With all other automakers fighting an uphill battle against Ford, it seems there isn’t anything that can stop the F-150 from being the top model and the one that we want to drive the most. It seems, one of the suppliers of the parts for the F-150 has found a way to stop this truck, although unintentionally.
Fire Slows Down Ford Production
On May 2, one of the parts suppliers for the Ford truck team experienced a fire which is impacting the production numbers of the pickup trucks for a short period of time. This fire took place at the Meridian Magnesium Products of America plant and this fire has caused a shortage of the parts needed to make the pickup trucks from this brand. The fire impacted the plant, but the effect was less than a third of the volume of the output of parts from this plant, which Ford is confident will be back to full strength in a short period of time.
The Delicate Dynamics of Vehicle Production
While the fire that took place is a setback for the parts manufacturer and for Ford, the team at the auto brand is working with its supply chain to offset the impacts of the fire. This fire has caused a shortage of die-cast parts for the F-Series pickup trucks. The expected impact is short-term and both teams are working together to do everything possible to reduce and limit the overall impact this has on the production of the Ford trucks. This is a prime example of one challenge causing a negative impact on the production process.
Suspending Ford F-150 Production
For now, in order to allow the team at Meridian Magnesium Products of America to produce the supply of parts needed by Ford, the production of the F-150 has been suspended at the Kansas City Assembly Plant and it will also be suspended at the Dearborn Truck Plant. The F-Series Super Duty production has already been halted at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, but the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake is to continue production of the Super Duty models. This situation is currently fluid for Ford and the length of the production stoppage hasn’t been determined as of yet.
No Shortage of Ford Trucks Expected
Does this mean there will be a shortage of Ford trucks on the lots at dealers around the country when we want to purchase them? That’s unlikely to be the case and when these plants are back in operation there’s a good chance the Ford teams will be working hard to make as many trucks as possible in order to make up for this unforeseen downtime that’s now causing the Ford trucks to be produced at the slowest pace faced for a number of years. Hopefully, we’ll see these plants back in production in just a short period of time.
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