LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Ford Motor Co.'s Louisville Assembly Plant will down for the seventh full week in 2021 when production is idled the week of May 24.
Plant manager Carlos Hollwell said the down week is another consequence of the global shortage of semiconductors, according to memo to employees dated Friday and obtained by WDRB News.
Executives at the Detroit-based automaker said last month that the computer chip shortage will cost the company half of its planned production in the April-June quarter.
“The semiconductor shortage and the impact to production will get worse before it gets better,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said April 28. “In fact, we believe our second quarter will be the trough for this year.”
While the shortage has caused a couple of down weeks at Kentucky Truck Plant, Ford's larger Louisville factory, Louisville Assembly Plant (LAP) has taken the brunt locally.
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LAP makes the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs.
Despite the disruptions, the plant's productivity has improved, as have quality measures like repairs and costs of the vehicles, Hollwell told employees in the Friday memo.
"It is very difficult to maintain a high level of performance with so much variability in the schedule, but in true LAP fashion we have been doing just that when the plant is running," Hollwell said in the memo.
The shutdown means about 3,900 hourly workers at the plant will be without work.
While the chip shortage has affected the entire auto industry, General Motors and Ford have been by far the most impacted, according to estimates by AutoForecast Solutions LLC, an industry consultant.
