Ford to Retool Michigan Assembly in May for Ranger, Bronco

Ford Motor Co. will be temporarily laying off roughly 2,000 hourly employees at its Michigan Assembly and Stamping Plants in May so it can begin retooling the site’s facilities for production of the 2019 Ford Ranger and 2020 Ford Bronco. The location will be idled for roughly five months and Ford wants to make it very clear that these are temporary layoffs.

The automaker said in a notice in compliance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act that all affected employees will either return to the plant in October or transfer to another factory. Ford also said it would be ending production of the Focus sedan and C-Max on May 7th.

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  • Theflyersfan Keep the car. It's reliable, hasn't nickeled and dimed you to death, and it looks like you're a homeowner so something with a back seat and a trunk is really helpful! As I've discovered becoming a homeowner with a car with no back seat and a trunk the size of a large cooler, even simple Target or Ikea runs get complicated if you don't ride up with a friend with a larger car. And I wonder if the old VW has now been left in Price Hill with the keys in the ignition and a "Please take me" sign taped to the windshield? The problems it had weren't going to improve with time.
  • SPPPP I don't think it's a sign of pressure from external competition, but rather a healthy sign of letting practicality trump triumphalism on the assembly floor. Does a 1-piece casting make sense? Imagine the huge investment (no pun intended) in the tooling for that structure. Now imagine that a change in regulation or market conditions requires a change to the structure. You're going to build all the tooling all over again? Why not use "gigacasting" selectively, to build right-sized modules that can be assembled simply and repeatably? Changing 1/3 of the tooling is much less costly. Additionally, it makes the vehicles repairable, instead of being subject to total loss in a minor accident.
  • Formula m Oh my first Ford learning experience was with a sales manager who is a former stripclub manager with a Satan’s choice tattoo on his forearm… was very eye opening. You can imagine how he has contributed to Ottawa over his long tenure with Ford. Hopefully A.I. gives a different experience
  • Slavuta This video explains the whole situation and also goes back when Musk was laughing off chinese companies
  • SPPPP Nice vehicle. My only fear with driving it so little is rodent damage - but I guess keeping it in the garage cuts that risk down a lot.