Ford will axe the second shift at its Flat Rock Michigan assembly plant that builds the Mustang and Mazda 6 sedan, with the loss of about 900 jobs.
Flat Rock is run in cooperation with Mazda, with Ford maintains an alliance, and opened in 1987.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Ford will eliminate the shift from 12 July, spokeswoman Marcey Evans told Reuters.
Most of the workers at the plant, who are represented by the United Auto Workers union, will be offered work at other Ford plants, she said.
Those who are not offered jobs will be offered buyouts under the terms of the automaker’s contract with the union, she added.
Flat Rock employs 2,280 and produced about 102,000 vehicles in 2009.
By reducing the number of “down weeks” when output is shut down in 2010 and increasing the speed of the assembly line from July, Ford expects to increase output this year even after it eliminates the second shift of production, Evans said.
Ford executive vice chairman Bill Ford, who was speaking to a business group on Tuesday, said the action reflected the automaker’s view that the US market was still in the early stages of a recovery and “not overly robust.”
