Ford F-150 Production Halted After Supplier Fire – Thousands of Workers Are Idle (News)

Ford is suspending F-150 production after a parts supplier went offline due to a factory fire. [Photo: Ford]
A major fire hit one of Ford’s parts suppliers last week, affecting production of America’s best-selling truck. Meridian Magnesium Factory went offline on May 2 after a fire ripped through its facility, and has not yet resumed normal operations. The company is currently in the process of repairing the damage, but hasn’t given an ETA when they’ll be back up and running yet.

Kansas City plant already offline

Ford shut down the Kansas City plant earlier this week because of the fire, and they will shut down the Dearborn assembly plant today as well. As they’re slated to run out of parts today, the fire affecting production at both plants is currently crippling F-150 production. Ford temporarily laid off 3,600 workers at the Kansas City plant. A shutdown in Michigan means 4,000 more employees could be out of work temporarily as well.

The plants could be shut down for at least a few days, and perhaps up to a few weeks. Super Duty production at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant has also ground to a halt. However, since the plant also produces the Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator, no workers were temporarily laid off.

Ford F-150 Production Halted
Ian Thibodeau, Detroit News reporter, states the company’s quarterly results may suffer as a result of the F-150’s halted production. [Photo: @Ian_Thibodeau, via Twitter]
Ford dealers likely have several weeks of inventory on hand. Although, how production may affect inventory later this summer is unclear. With a model as popular as the F-150, any pause in production could hurt the company’s bottom line. Ford sold 896,764 F-150s in the U.S. last year. As the Dearborn plant is shuts down today, the clock is ticking for the supplier to resume operations, and for Ford to restart F-150 assembly as quickly as possible.

This story is still developing. Check back to TFLtruck.com for more updates!