- Ford is resuming production of the
F-150 pickup at Dearborn Truck Plant on Friday. Ford team has also
successfully repaired the supply chain for Super Duty; production
targeted to restart by Monday for Super Duty at Kentucky Truck
Plant and F-150 at Kansas City Assembly Plant
- Ford marshaled a global team of
experts, that included partners and suppliers, following a May 2
fire at Meridian Magnesium Products in Eaton Rapids, Mich., to
quickly refurbish and relocate tooling needed to produce parts for
the Ford F-150, Super Duty and five other vehicles – Ford
Expedition, Explorer, Flex and Lincoln Navigator and MKT
- Because of this quick action, Meridian
is producing truck parts again at its Eaton Rapids facility. Plus,
Ford airlifted tooling to a Meridian facility in the U.K. to
produce parts for F-150, which will further speed production
ramp-up
- Ford Expedition, Explorer, Flex and
Lincoln Navigator and MKT production continue uninterrupted
- Company reaffirms 2018 adjusted EPS
guidance range of $1.45 to $1.70; expects adverse impact of $0.12
to $0.14 per share in second quarter due to lost production 1
Ford Motor Company is restarting production of the popular F-150
at Dearborn Truck Plant Friday after just over one week of
downtime. The company has also successfully repaired the supply
chain for Super Duty, with production targeted to restart by Monday
at the Kentucky Truck Plant as well as the Kansas City Assembly
Plant that also makes F-150 pickups.
This follows the massive May 2 fire at the Meridian Magnesium
Products facility in Eaton Rapids, Mich.
“While the situation remains extremely dynamic, our teams are
focused on returning our plants to full production as fast as
possible,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president, Global Operations.
“The ramp-up time to full production is improving every day.”
Ford teams, together with suppliers including Walbridge and
other contractors, worked nearly around the clock to get America’s
best-selling vehicle franchise back on line as quickly as
possible.
The teams removed 19 dies from Meridian’s badly damaged
facility, and in one case, moved an 87,000-pound die from Eaton
Rapids, Mich., to Nottingham, U.K., via an Antonov cargo plane –
one of the largest in the world – in just 30 hours door-to-door. A
die is a tool used to cut or shape material using a press.
“Faced with unexpected adversity, the Ford team, including our
global supply partners, showed unbelievable resiliency, turning a
devastating event into a shining example of teamwork,” said Hau
Thai-Tang, Ford’s executive vice president of Product Development
and Purchasing. “Thanks to their heroic efforts, we are resuming
production of some of our most important vehicles ahead of our
original targets.”
Work started immediately in the aftermath of the May 2 fire.
Teams removed and remediated safety concerns – including dangling
siding – and restored electricity, gaining approval to access the
site while debris still smoldered inside.
This allowed Ford and Meridian to safely retrieve and relocate
tools to more quickly resume part production and work to minimize
the financial impact of the stalled plants.
Ford recovered, repaired and validated most dies that were at
the Eaton Rapids facility, and Meridian is now producing parts for
the F-150 at two locations – Eaton Rapids and Nottingham, U.K.
Production of bolsters for Super Duty is also restarting at the
Eaton Rapids plant.
Under normal circumstances, moving tooling the size of a bolster
die would take approximately 10 days just to get the proper import
and export approvals. However, Ford and its suppliers managed to
cut the total time for the entire move to 30 hours, including
trans-Atlantic flight time.
When the team removed the die from the Eaton Rapids factory, it
was shipped to Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus,
Ohio. Rickenbacker had both the capacity to handle such a large
piece of equipment and allowed an Antonov An-124 Russian plane, one
of the largest planes in the world – typically used to transport
trains, dump trucks and even a 25-foot sea yacht – to take off as
soon as the equipment was loaded.
Nearly 4,000 miles away, a team in Nottingham was waiting to
receive the die and take it to Meridian’s nearby factory. In
between, the Ford team received a U.K. import license for the die –
a mere two hours before the plane touched down.
Parts produced at Nottingham are being shipped via daily flights
on a Boeing 747 jet until production in Eaton Rapids returns to
pre-fire levels.
Inventories of Ford’s best-selling F-Series pickups and other
vehicles remain strong and customers won’t have a problem finding
the model they want.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn,
Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a
full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and
Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford
Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in
electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford
employs approximately 202,000 people worldwide. For more
information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit
Company, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.
1 Adjusted earnings per share is a non-GAAP financial
measure. Ford does not provide guidance on an earnings per share
basis, the comparable GAAP financial measure. Ford’s earnings per
share in 2018 will include potentially significant special items
that have not yet occurred and are difficult to predict with
reasonable certainty prior to year-end, including pension and OPEB
remeasurement gains and losses.
Cautionary Note of Forward-Looking
Statements
Statements included or incorporated by reference herein may
constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements are based on expectations, forecasts, and assumptions by
our management and involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and
other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those stated, including, without limitation:
- Ford’s long-term competitiveness
depends on the successful execution of fitness actions;
- Industry sales volume, particularly in
the United States, Europe, or China, could decline if there is a
financial crisis, recession, or significant geopolitical
event;
- Ford’s new and existing products and
mobility services are subject to market acceptance;
- Ford’s results are dependent on sales
of larger, more profitable vehicles, particularly in the United
States;
- Ford may face increased price
competition resulting from industry excess capacity, currency
fluctuations, or other factors;
- Fluctuations in commodity prices,
foreign currency exchange rates, and interest rates can have a
significant effect on results;
- With a global footprint, Ford’s results
could be adversely affected by economic, geopolitical,
protectionist trade policies,or other events;
- Ford’s production, as well as Ford’s
suppliers’ production, could be disrupted by labor disputes,
natural or man-made disasters, financial distress, production
difficulties, or other factors;
- Ford’s ability to maintain a
competitive cost structure could be affected by labor or other
constraints;
- Pension and other postretirement
liabilities could adversely affect Ford’s liquidity and financial
condition;
- Economic and demographic experience for
pension and other postretirement benefit plans (e.g., discount
rates or investment returns) could be worse than Ford has
assumed;
- Ford’s vehicles could be affected by
defects that result in delays in new model launches, recall
campaigns, or increasedwarranty costs;
- Safety, emissions, fuel economy, and
other regulations affecting Ford may become more stringent;
- Ford could experience unusual or
significant litigation, governmental investigations, or adverse
publicity arising out of alleged defects in products, perceived
environmental impacts, or otherwise;
- Ford’s receipt of government incentives
could be subject to reduction, termination, or clawback;
- Operational systems, security systems,
and vehicles could be affected by cyber incidents;
- Ford Credit’s access to debt,
securitization, or derivative markets around the world at
competitive rates or in sufficient amounts could be affected by
credit rating downgrades, market volatility, market disruption,
regulatory requirements, or other factors;
- Ford Credit could experience
higher-than-expected credit losses, lower-than-anticipated residual
values, or higher-than-expected return volumes for leased
vehicles;
- Ford Credit could face increased
competition from banks, financial institutions, or other third
parties seeking to increase their share of financing Ford vehicles;
and
- Ford Credit could be subject to new or
increased credit regulations, consumer or data protection
regulations, or other regulations.
We cannot be certain that any expectation, forecast, or
assumption made in preparing forward-looking statements will prove
accurate, or that any projection will be realized. It is to be
expected that there may be differences between projected and actual
results. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date
of their initial issuance, and we do not undertake any obligation
to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statement, whether
as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. For
additional discussion, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, as
updated by subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current
Reports on Form 8-K.
For news releases, related materials and
high-resolution photos and video, visit www.media.ford.com.
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