Dearborn, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Ford Motor Company is choosing to cut back on its hourly workforce at the factory that focuses on the Ford F-150 Lightning truck.
After April 1, only a third of the 2,100 workers that compose the work crews at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn will remain, according to a Ford spokeswoman. One crew of 700 will be transferred to the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne to build the Bronco and the Ranger. According to the Detroit Free Press, the remaining third will take a $50,000 retirement package or accept a reassignment in southeast Michigan.
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Staffing reductions at the Lightning plant, will not result in job losses according to Ford’s spokeswoman.
Ford’s EV Production Slows Down.
While Ford announced its intentions to hire more workers to increase the Lightning truck production, it has been reducing its workforce as the EV sales have slowed according to Ford.
According to Ford, new vehicles have been held for quality review since Feb. 9, with shipping expected to begin in April.
United Auto Workers remains focused on EV development.
Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862 in Louisville, Kentucky, told members during his weekly video update released Tuesday that the labor union leaders are closely monitoring all activity involving battery-electric production.
“The battery technology right now is kind of slowing some of the purchasing down. The REV Center, the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, we call it REV-C, was ramping up their second crew. They’re now going to lay off that second crew and not put the third crew on,” Dunn said according to the Detroit Free Press. “Their intentions were to build 180,000-plus units. Right now, we’re looking at 55,000 units they’re gonna build. There are some things out there that’s causing this — distance on (battery) charges, new technology that’s being brought about overseas, that technology being implemented over there already in certain design models. It’s also showing almost double in mileage, if not a significant increase. So, some of those things are changing.”
He added, “We’re staying right on top of things, the way we should.”
Future Vehicles won’t all buzz with EV batteries.
Ford CEO Jim Farley shared that the automaker is not planning to completely forgo its internal combustion engine vehicles, but offer more of a variety to consumers. Ford currently builds the top-selling trucks across gas, hybrid and electric propulsion systems. Both the F-150 hybrid and Maverick hybrid are strong sellers.
“We are taking advantage of our manufacturing flexibility to offer customers choices while balancing our growth and profitability,” Farley said in a news release in January. “We see a bright future for electric vehicles for specific consumers, especially with our upcoming digitally advanced EVs and access to Tesla’s charging network.”
Last December, it already began scaling back production from its initial target of 3,200 trucks per week to roughly 1,600 Lightning trucks per week at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.
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