Ford’s in 2015 will produce close to 40,000 extra units by idling some plants for only one week during what has been the traditional two week summer shutdown.
“To meet surging customer demand for our top selling trucks and utilities, we are continuing to run our North American facilities during the traditional two week summer shutdown in order to add close to 40,000 units,” said Bruce Hettle, Ford’s North America manufacturing chief. “Six of our assembly plants will build for an additional week in order to ensure we’re getting more of our vehicles into dealerships.”
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North American factories will shut from 29 June to 10 July for building maintenance and machine retooling. Due to demand for F-150, Edge, Escape and Explorer – six assembly plants, along with supporting powertrain and stamping plants, will shut down only the week of 29 June. These are Chicago, Dearborn Truck, Kansas City, Kentucky Truck, Louisville and Oakville.
Powertrain and stamping plants taking a reduced summer shutdown in 2015 are:
- Livonia Transmission
- Rawsonville Transmission
- Sharonville Transmission
- Sterling Axle
- Buffalo Stamping
- Chicago Stamping
- Dearborn Consolidated
- Kansas City Stamping
- Kentucky Stamping
- Woodhaven Stamping
The automaker said the redesigned 2015 F-150 pickup truck was turning in just 20 days on dealer lots while Edge was at 10 days. The 2016 Explorer is just reaching dealers as production ramps up.
This is the third straight year Ford has kept plants running during summer shutdown to meet demand.
