While everybody expects the global chip crunch to ease off in the second half of the year, dealing with the disruptions caused by the limited supply is getting harder and harder these days.
And Ford knows this very well, as the company has just announced a series of new temporary production adjustments at its North American plants. The reason is as simple as it could be: the global semiconductor shortage is making it impossible for the American giant to keep the production going, so it has no other option than to temporarily halt the operations at certain facilities until the inventory is restored.
Two different assembly plants will go offline this week.
The first of them is the Oakville plant, where Ford makes the Ford Edge and the Lincoln Nautilus. The second is the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky and responsible for the production of the Ford Escape and the Lincoln Corsair.
Both factories will halt the manufacturing for one full week, with all operations to return to normal coming next Monday.
In the meantime, Ford is trying all kinds of strategies to deal with the limited chip supply that’s still impacting the production of cars, not only in the U.S. but elsewhere too.
The American company is trying to prioritize the production of its best-selling models, including the Mustang and the F-150. In other words, the existing chip inventory is directed to filling the orders for these models, and in theory, this means the waiting times for certain Ford vehicles could be substantially reduced.
But on the other hand, if you’ve ordered a Ford car that’s not labeled as a high-priority product, the waiting time could be substantially higher. In some cases, customers are waiting for up to 12 months to have their cars shipped, but given the chip shortage could ease off later this year, the waiting times shouldn’t increase that much anyway.
Two different assembly plants will go offline this week.
The first of them is the Oakville plant, where Ford makes the Ford Edge and the Lincoln Nautilus. The second is the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky and responsible for the production of the Ford Escape and the Lincoln Corsair.
Both factories will halt the manufacturing for one full week, with all operations to return to normal coming next Monday.
In the meantime, Ford is trying all kinds of strategies to deal with the limited chip supply that’s still impacting the production of cars, not only in the U.S. but elsewhere too.
The American company is trying to prioritize the production of its best-selling models, including the Mustang and the F-150. In other words, the existing chip inventory is directed to filling the orders for these models, and in theory, this means the waiting times for certain Ford vehicles could be substantially reduced.
But on the other hand, if you’ve ordered a Ford car that’s not labeled as a high-priority product, the waiting time could be substantially higher. In some cases, customers are waiting for up to 12 months to have their cars shipped, but given the chip shortage could ease off later this year, the waiting times shouldn’t increase that much anyway.