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LIMA – About 1,300 workers at Ford’s Lima engine plant will be temporarily sidelined Monday due to nationwide disruptions in the company’s assembly process.
The shutdown of the local auto plant is expected to last a week.
A semiconductor shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has plagued the auto industry for much of this year. Chips are tiny transistors made from silicon that are used in all modern cars and perform everything from a car’s touchscreen to its safety function and more, according to industry experts.
Jeff Adams, president of Local 1219 of the United Auto Workers union which represents Ford workers, said on Sunday he was briefed on the latest week-long layoff on Thursday. The expected return to work date is September 20.
This isn’t the first time this year that the Lima plant, which produces engines for the F-150 pickup truck and Ford Bronco, has been sidelined. Adams said a layoff of about eight weeks in April and May was followed by another one-week leave last month.
He said the local factory was ready and willing to continue producing engines, but the Michigan and Kansas City assembly plants that produce the vehicles have occasionally been shut down due to shortages of semiconductor chips. .
In mid-August, Ford announced that it would temporarily shut down its Kansas City assembly plant that builds its best-selling F-150 pickup truck due to a shortage of semiconductor-related parts. The one-week closure began on August 2
“The assembly plants don’t have the chips and can’t produce the vehicles, and our engines are just installed in those plants. They didn’t return the racks (which hold the motors during shipping) back to us and we have nowhere to put the motors, ”Adams said.
“There is not much we can do. If you have nowhere to put the motors, you have nowhere to put them. It’s that simple. “
He said most of the employees, with the exception of a hundred temporary employees, will be eligible for unemployment benefits and an additional seniority-based allowance that is included in the UAW’s contract with Ford. .
Adams, however, said some workers still struggled to get unemployment benefits from previous closings.
“It’s been a hell of a mess,” he said.
Ford is not the only American automaker to be affected by the parts shortage. Other automakers have experienced similar shutdowns.
Honda had to cut production in North America earlier this year due to the chip shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
General Motors factories in Fort Wayne and other sites closed in early August due to parts shortages.
A GM spokesperson at the time said the planning adjustments were prompted by temporary parts shortages caused by semiconductor supply constraints in international markets facing COVID-19 restrictions. .
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