DEARBORN (WWJ) -- Ford is going to add a third shift to its Dearborn Truck plant early next year, as it seeks to make up the production lost due to a big supplier fire.
“We have the opportunity to recover about fifty thousand units next year,” says Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra. “Those are going to be spread throughout the year. I would expect this third crew will last quite a bit.”
This will mean 900 new jobs at Dearborn Truck. Ford will add 100 other jobs in Louisville, where they make the larger Super Duty pickups.
This comes as Ford today unveiled third quarter earnings of $2.4 billion dollars. Once again, they made money on gasoline and commercial vehicles, and lost $1.5 billion pre tax in their Model E electric vehicle business.
Tariffs cost Ford $700 million in the quarter. But, Chief Financial Officer Sherry House said recent changes in rules involving imported parts will significantly reduce their overall tariff costs this year. They had expected those costs to be in the two billion dollar range.
“This new billion dollar benefit is going to be retroactive. So now it’s going to reduce it, so that our net impact for the entire year, once you put that receivable in, is going to be one billion.”
Ford did not incur any costs from the fire at the Novelis aluminum plant that is now disrupting production. But the company expects $1.5 to $1.5 billion in fourth quarter costs. With mitigation, that should work out to a bottom line hit of about a billion dollars when all is said and done.
Galhotra says Ford is working to get supplies from the part of the plant that isn’t damaged, and the rest of the plant should be operating by the end of the year.
“Between now and then we do expect some disruption, both for F-series, F-150 and Super Duty.”
He declined to say how much production and said it would vary from week to week. Galhotra also wouldn’t say how long the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center would remain closed. It’s now idle, as Ford is using all the resources it can to build profitable gasoline powered pickups.
Galhotra stressed that Ford does have adequate inventories to deal with the situation
“I do not expect a retail impact of this. Consumers should not be impacted.”