F-150 Sales Way Up, But Will Ford Keep On Truckin?

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

The Freep reports that Ford is allocating an extra 250 workers to its Dearborn plant in Michigan. Why? Well, because the Dearborn plant makes the F-150 and because sales are rising. Ford can’t make them fast enough. According to Autodata, Ford’s share of the pick-up market has risen 4.2 percent this year. This is great news, Ford is getting more Americans back into work, right? Not quite.

Did you notice I wrote “ALLOCATING an extra 250 workers” and not “HIRING an extra 250 workers”? This is because these aren’t new positions. The extra staff working on the F-150 production are coming from the Flat Rock joint venture plant between Ford and Mazda. In July, they cut the shifts down from two to one. Which meant they had an excess of staff. An excess of staff in one plant and a deficiency in another plant nearby? Even the stupidest MBA can figure that one out. According to the Freep’s article, this shift in workers was possible because Ford switched to a production schedule that included “tag relief” workers. A tag relief worker is someone who fills in for another worker who goes on a break. Now couple that with a staggered break time schedule and this means that the plant can carry production more efficiently since, theoretically, the line doesn’t have to stop.

When I read this article my first thought was “Good for Ford. Well done!” but something didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t put my finger on it until I read the final paragraph. Doug Scott, Ford’s truck marketing manager, said that F-150 sales volumes will carry on increasing as the industry rebounds.

Hmmm. What say you? Will it or will it not?

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Stuki Stuki on Oct 23, 2010

    Ford is doing a real good job keeping their trucks ahead of the pack, with a wide variety of engines and configurations. Other than the Raptor (One of The World's Two Best Cars), I feel GM's AWD make more sense in a light duty, personal use, 4x4; but then again, perhaps this realignment indicates people finally realize light duty, personal use, gigantic trucks are a bit of an oxymoron. (Except for the Raptor, of course, where it makes all the sense in the world.....) Every time I walk past a neighbor's tiny little Toyota and read the 1Ton sticker on the back, condominium sized half tons just seem sooo silly. Except for possibly outrunning cops on Humboldt logging roads with high value to weight greenpacks in the bed ( Raptor ), what is it that people haul that requires so much space, yet weighs so little?

    • Rob Finfrock Rob Finfrock on Oct 23, 2010

      I can believe Ford's increasing dominance of the light truck segment, and Gov't Motors' decline in same. The GMT900s are really no match for the F-Series, especially now that the latter has some real engine choices. What I can't get over is how increasingly irrelevant Dodge is. The trucks aren't great, and they wear too quickly (as seen in the recent TTAC review) but they're not awful. If anything, the recent restyle seems to have utterly tanked demand for Rams. Or is it all due to uneasiness about Fiasler?

  • Nrd515 Nrd515 on Oct 24, 2010

    I guess the economy is picking up, as I'm seeing several new vehicles around my neighborhood, and almost all of them are half ton pickups, or larger SUVs. I have to admit, that if I was walking (And doing almost anything else better than I am right now), I would probably be driving one myself. I drove a friend's new Ram last week and liked it, a lot. I've owned minivans, SUVs large and small, cars and pickups, and the pickups are the only ones I really miss day by day. I don't miss buying the gas they guzzled every week or so, but other than that, I have nothing bad to say about them. With one exception, they were all rock solid dependable, confortable, and got me through winter snows with ease. But as long as my knees and back are as messed up as they are, I'm driving a car. In two or three years though, a truck may be back in my garage. I've never owned, or really wanted to own a Ford, but an F-150 with the big motor sounds like fun.

  • Skor Skor on Oct 24, 2010

    The lesson here is that Ford, or any other automaker for that matter, needs to remain flexible and have solid plans in place for dealing with changing market dynamics. Assuming that the emergency is almost over, and that we'll be back to business as usual (usual being 2007), ala Doug Scott, is a big mistake. Fact is that we're only one Middle Eastern war away from catastrophe. All that's needed is for one extremist mental-case in Tel Aviv, Tehran, or Damascus to set match to fuse and hello $10/gal gas. I'm sure F-150's will be flying off the lots under those circumstances.

  • Greg Locock Greg Locock on Oct 24, 2010

    Dumb spin on this one in order to create some shock value. Workers moved from underutilised plant to busy one. This is bad, why exactly?

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