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Risk of Flat Rock closing due to parts shortage?

RasJeremy

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First of all this is a question - NOT a statement! Don't want to give you guys a heart attack :crackup:

I saw on the automotive news that Mercedes in Vance, Alabama restarted their production on 27th of April but just closed down yesterday on 18th of May due to parts shortage. There has yet to be put up a restart date.

That made me think about Ford and how the parts stock work in Flat Rock. Do you think this could happen to Flat Rock too after a couple of weeks of production when it reopens on Monday :question:

EDIT 1: Just as I posted this I saw the updated news about Volvo in Ridgeville, South Carolina. They restarted the 11th og May and only lasted a week before shutting down today the 19th of May - also due to parts shortage. No info on restart.

Ras, Denmark
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Zooks527

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That made me think about Ford and how the parts stock work in Flat Rock. Do you think this could happen to Flat Rock too after a couple of weeks of production when it reopens on Monday :question:
Sure. It doesn't even need to be many parts, just single key ones.

Case in point - Flat Rock shut down for weeks last year when a sudden strike had them run out of steering wheels. After making many cars (mine included) without steering wheels that were then set to the side for later rework, the plant also had a shutdown and slow restart until parts were again in hand

Just-In-Time production can lower costs and minimize the charge for carrying inventory, but it can also be brutal when the supply network gets disturbed.
 

shogun32

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If they're smart, they've been stockpiling during the shutdown.
except where you gonna provision excess warehouses from? Once you design for JIT all the fat gets trimmed which means no more leases for unused warehouse space. JIT works great in Japan (and SK) with heavy vertical defacto integration of suppliers and tiny geographic footprint. A whole lot less here when multiple not necessarily friendly countries are involved, only to save a couple dollars by playing ecological (nee pollution) and wage arbitrage.
 

shogun32

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Stephen@lethal

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I know its happening to GM at the moment, depends on where in the country the parts are being made from. Some Manufacturers engines are made in New York which obviously has been hit hard and may delay engines from being built for who knows how long at the moment.
 

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Barely related, but my wife was a materials manager at Flat Rock for the launch of the 2004 new gen Mustang. She's in Dearborn now, currently on the phone discussing parts shortages at the Explorer plant in Chicago.
 
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RasJeremy

RasJeremy

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@Spartan1 - I just updated the thread with news about Volvo... And with your reply it seems that it it might strike even more assembly plants.

If that is the case that the productions has to shut down only a couple of weeks after restart, then my build date of 25th of Juni on my 2020 5.0 might be pushed even more
 

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Wife just said it depends on where parts come from, Mexico hasn't started production at any of their supplier plants yet. So that will cause delays depending on which vehicles are partially Mexico sourced.
 

bcreed1983

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I am a parts counterperson for a Ford dealer and have been noticing a lot of parts being backordered and the reason given for most of them is supplier closed due to COVID-19, so I am sure there is a real parts shortage at the assembly plants as well. Thought I heard something a week or so ago that Ford wasn't producing any more 2020 vehicles and when they restart they will all be 2021 model year. Not 100% sure about that last statement though
 

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Zooks527

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Wife just said it depends on where parts come from, Mexico hasn't started production at any of their supplier plants yet. So that will cause delays depending on which vehicles are partially Mexico sourced.
I can say, without fear of contradiction, that as of last year, Mustang steering wheels came from a Mexican supplier. If that's still the case, Flat Rock may restart, but they likely won't be making Mustangs.

Update: This story (https://www.monroenews.com/news/20200512/flat-rock-ford-plant-set-to-reopen-memorial-day-week) says that they will be building Mustangs and Lincoln Continentals. How the split shakes out remains to be seen.
 

shogun32

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I don't think I would accept a vehicle built before Jun 15th.
 
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RasJeremy

RasJeremy

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Thought I heard something a week or so ago that Ford wasn't producing any more 2020 vehicles and when they restart they will all be 2021 model year. Not 100% sure about that last statement though
That's interesting! I hate when people throw out info like "I heard from a dude who knows stuff and he is always almost right". But the info you've gotten I've heard from the Ford dealership too. They were talking about how they might solve it by finishing the cars already being build. And the cars with existing VIN which haven't reach production start yet would be the choise of the customer to either "scrap" the VIN without any sort of "fee" from the customer or the order could be updated to a MY2021. I want to make it clear that I haven't got anything on writing about this or any proof - it was an information I got when I talked to my dealer when getting an update on the entire situation and on my own MY2020 build
 

Stranger706

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I work in aircraft manufacturing and we are also having a hard time getting parts. Production has been cut in half since pre virus days and there is no plan to ramp up again for the remainder of the year. I am actually surprised we are able to maintain 50%.
 

Twin Turbo

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That's interesting! I hate when people throw out info like "I heard from a dude who knows stuff and he is always almost right". But the info you've gotten I've heard from the Ford dealership too. They were talking about how they might solve it by finishing the cars already being build. And the cars with existing VIN which haven't reach production start yet would be the choise of the customer to either "scrap" the VIN without any sort of "fee" from the customer or the order could be updated to a MY2021. I want to make it clear that I haven't got anything on writing about this or any proof - it was an information I got when I talked to my dealer when getting an update on the entire situation and on my own MY2020 build
I've wondered aloud if Ford would do this but I think they will continue with the existing '20MY builds until later in the year when they'll swap over to the '21MYs. I believe Ford utilise their Summer shutdowns to do any retooling necessary for new model year builds. The latest dates on these can be found here:

https://fordauthority.com/2020/05/f...shl6oZMuHhiXyN6mvRylcGDIlhtLoq8OEB1NBKXrhKKKg

I had thought they'd use the Covid shutdown to do any retooling necessary (so as to avoid a further shut down in a few months) but this doesn't appear to be the case :)
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