Juggling Act: Ford's Shutdown Schedule Revised Again
Given the level of uncertainty out there, even best-laid plans rest on a quivering foundation of JELL-O. It’s the same for automotive plant shutdowns in North America — most temporary idle periods carry an open-ended end date. We’ll reassess at that point and make a decision, automakers are saying.
Just two days ago, Ford Motor Company said its shutdowns would go well past the original March 30th end date; now it’s saying some facilities will come back online earlier than thought.
Thursday morning brought this message from Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford North America:
Ford is aiming to restart production at select plants in North America as early as April 6, bringing key plants back online while the company introduces additional safety measures to protect returning workers.
Ford is planning to resume production at Hermosillo Assembly Plant on April 6 on one shift. On April 14, Ford is planning to start building vehicles at Dearborn Truck Plant, Kentucky Truck Plant, Kansas City Assembly Plant’s Transit line and Ohio Assembly Plant.
Ohio Assembly handles the biggest of the F-Series models, while Hermosillo handles Fusion/MKZ production. To support the reawakened assembly of big-volume, big-margin vehicles, Ford plans to turn the lights on at eight U.S. component and stamping plants by April 14th.
Those plants include two in Dearborn, Michigan, joined by the integrated stamping plants at Kansas City and Kentucky, the Van Dyke Transmission, Lima Engine, and Rawsonville Components plants, and Sharonville Transmission.
“We will continue to assess public health conditions as well as supplier readiness and will adjust plans if necessary,” Galhotra said.
[Image: © 2020 Matthew Guy/TTAC]
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I think people are just concerned and uncertain of things right now and we should cut each other some slack in the comments rather than resort to bomb throwing.
The virus remains a real threat, but this is how we should pivot and still take it seriously: If you own a business -- keep it open. If you have a job -- go do it. If you can do equivalent work from home -- continue doing it. If you are in management or in a decision-making role -- influence your organization to resume normal operation. At the same time, we need to influence our government and media to change the instructions they are communicating to the public. The message needs to change from: everyone stay home, to: stay home only if you are sick or suspect you may be getting sick, or if you have a compromised immune system. Actions our government should take in addition to encouraging people to do their normal work are: Advise/allow all business, organizations, and industries to resume normal operation. Create and publish a list of health factors that would define someone as high-risk for the virus and advise only the high-risk individuals and their care-givers to remain in quarantine. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/03/lets_not_swat_the_mosquito_but_get_hit_by_the_train.html#ixzz6HolW03DB
The Diamond Princess experience–virtually a laboratory experiment–suggests that around 80% of the population is naturally immune to COVID-19, that half the people who get the disease will experience no symptoms, and that in an elderly population, something like 1% of those who contract the disease will die. So far I don’t see anything in the reported U.S. or global fatality numbers to contradict the Diamond Princess experience. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/covid-19-fatalities-so-far.php
LOL. And here we have the B&B(!) in their natural habitat. The comment section joined at their cliquey hips united in shouting down anyone who doesn't share their obviously superior opinion. And who can blame them, they've done everything you've done, and MORE! Heck just ask them. B&B Y'all(!), so thick you gotta scoop it up with a backhoe.