Ford & GM Announce Reductions and Temporary Assembly Plant Down-Time

Following dissappointing sales in November, both Ford and GM have announced cutbacks in production. Hitting most deeply the pickup truck and sport utility lines.

Ford recently reported it will be dropping a shift at its St. Louis plant, where it assembles the Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer and Lincoln Aviator. In February of this year, Ford closed its Edison, N.J., plant, where it manufactured the Ford Ranger pickup. For full-sized truck pick-ups such as the Ford F-150 and Super Duty pickups the automaker has no plans to cut production however.

Temporary shutdowns are ocurring throughout the first quarter at other Ford plants. Notably Ford's Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, Mich., which assembles the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. Michigan Truck previously operated without an inventory-related shutdown for nearly four years. The plant will be shutting down the week of Dec. 20 and stay closed through the first week of January, says Brian Quantz, vice president of UAW Local 900. The shutdown includes the normal one-week holiday break.

GM has also warned suppliers that it will be reducing production of the mid-sized SUVs. GM will eliminate a Saturday shift at its Moraine, Ohio, plant, which manufactures the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier and Isuzu Ascender. The automaker has told hourly workers to expect downtime at four more plants that produce SUVs and other trucks.

The automaker is eliminating a third shift at a Pontiac, Mich., plant that produces the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. About 900 employees will be laid off in January. GM's assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, will also schedule downtime in the first two weeks of January. The plant builds the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL. The GM assembly plant in Janesville, Wis. will shut down in January, late March and early April. Janesville assembles the Yukon and Yukon XL and Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban.

The Oklahoma City assembly plant will schedule downtime in early January. Oklahoma City builds the GMC Envoy XL and Envoy XUV and Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT. When workers return Jan. 18, GM will reduce the line speed, cutting production by 20 percent. And the automaker has announced that the Lansing, Mich., Craft Centre, which builds the Chevrolet SSR pickup, will have downtime the week of Jan. 3, as will the adjacent car plant building the Pontiac Grand Am and Chevrolet Classic.

Recently, GM also announced that it will be laying off nearly 1,000 workers at its Linden, N.J., plant next year as it discontinues the Chevy Blazer and GMC Jimmy SUV models. GM continued to sell the low-priced SUVs after introducing their replacements in 2002. GM also is closing a plant in Baltimore that makes Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari vans.