Ford Reopens Main Factory

Ford reopens its main factory on May 18 - US carmaker Ford Motor Company announced it will resume production activities at its main factory in North America on May 18 after being briefly stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first wave of employees, totaling 12,000 people, will return to the Ford factory to produce vehicles, jobs that cannot be done from home during the corona pandemic.

"We have worked earnestly with the state and federal governments, our union (workers) partners and cross sections of our workforce to reopen our North American facilities," said Jim Farley, Ford's Chief Operating Officer, Friday (8 / 5/2020).

Ford has also reopened its facilities in China and also in Europe, and has been producing medical equipment in Michigan for more than six weeks to help deal with the effects of the corona pandemic.

In this restart phase, Ford North American parts depot will resume full operation on Monday (11/5). On May 18, Ford's North American assembly plant resumed operations with two shifts from the previous three shifts.

The Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Flat Rock, Michigan and the Oakville Assembly Complex in Oakville, Ontario, are expected to start production on May 25 in one shift. The component plant will restart production as needed to support this plan.

Process of Increasing

The process of increasing Ford's factory capacity will be gradual as workers adjust to new health and safety protocols and the entire supply chain increases rapidly.

"We have developed this safety protocol in coordination with our union partners, especially the UAW, and we all know it will take time to adjust to them," said Gary Johnson, Ford's Chief Manufacturing and Labor Officer.

Ford has manufactured face masks at the Van Dyke transmission plant for use at facilities throughout North America and face shields at the Troy Design & Manufacturing facility in Plymouth, Michigan.

Face masks provided by the company will be needed for anyone who works at Ford's location, in line with the company's global protocol, while safety glasses or face shields will be needed in some cases. (Source www.beritasatu.com)