Home » Ford boosts vehicle production by reducing summer shutdown

Ford boosts vehicle production by reducing summer shutdown

New robotic equipment at the Louisville Assembly Plants improves plant efficiency and boosts quality in the 2013 Ford Escape. The plant, along with several other Ford locations, will only shut down for one week this summer, instead of the usual two, allowing Ford Motor Company to produce nearly 40,000 additional vehicles.

DEARBORN, Mich. (May 8, 2012) – Ford Motor Company will produce nearly 40,000 additional vehicles this summer by idling 13 plants, including six assembly plants, for just one week instead of the traditional two.

Ford’s two Kentucky assembly plants — Kentucky Truck and Louisville Assembly — are among the facilities taking only one week of summer shutdown.

“We are working most of our North America plants at maximum capacity and we are adding production shifts in three of our assembly plants this month alone,” said Jim Tetreault, vice president of North America Manufacturing. “Requiring more capacity from our plants is a good problem to have and having the flexibility to add a week of production in our plants goes a long way toward solving it.”

The other Ford assembly plants taking just one week of summer shutdown in 2012 include Chicago Assembly, Dearborn Truck, Michigan Assembly and Kansas City Assembly.

Other plants taking just one week of shutdown include Dearborn Engine, Chicago Stamping, Cleveland Engine No. 1, Lima Engine, Essex Engine, Sterling and Rawsonville.

Ford’s production boost because of its altered summer shutdown schedule is consistent with the company’s plan to increase its annual vehicle production capacity by 400,000 units.