Ford Motor Co. (F) is expected to resume production of its famous F-150 pickups in Dearborn and Kansas City from 18th of May, according to multiple reports published Friday.
The second biggest U.S automaker recently shut truck plants located in Michigan, Missouri and Kentucky amid shortage of parts after its supplier’s automotive parts factory in Michigan caught fire earlier this month.
A spokesperson at Ford, Kelli Felker said the company is tirelessly working around the clock to get its bestselling F-150 vehicles back into production as soon as possible.
Ford executives said the company’s quarterly profit could be hurt by halts at the three truck plants, though they didn’t change earnings forecast for the full year.
The company said it is collaborating with Chinese-owned Meridian to handover production of the affected parts to other dealers until production is resumed at the fire-damaged plant.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker has sold 287,000 F Series trucks during the first four months of this year in the U.S, up 4 percent from the comparable period last year. The number include some bigger trucks than the F-150, though the F-150 accounts for majority of those sales.
Production halt at its different plants has affected thousands of workers, as they will not get their wages during the temporary layoff.
Separately, Mercedes revealed on Friday that it is facing shortage of parts for its GLE, GLE Coupé and GLS that are manufactured in Vance, Ala. The company stopped production of its SUV operations and decreased worker shifts due to shortage of cockpit cross-members at the plant.
The May 2 fire incident at Eaton Rapids auto supplier has affected leading U.S car makers and resulted in dramatic production changes across the country. Ford, General Motors (GM), Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes are still struggling to deal with the production delays following the incident.
