Ford continues to dominate the heavy-truck market, with F-Series truck sales at a 12-year high.
For salaried Ford employees wondering when it’ll be time to get out of their pajamas and leave home on a workday, the answer is likely by late June or early July in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Pointing to that time frame, Kiersten Robinson, Ford’s chief human resources officer, said Thursday during a conference call with reporters that the Dearborn-based automaker has implemented workplace protections to allow a staggered return in North America.
The company released the following plans for formal COVID-19 safety measures:
- Daily online health self-certifications completed before work every day.
- No-touch temperature scans upon arrival.
- Providing all employees a care kit including a face mask and hand sanitizer.
- Safety glasses with side shields or face shields, if needed.
- Increased cleaning and disinfecting of facilities.
- Hand sanitation stations
“The bottom line is, based on all the information we have access to, we will not have a reliable and scale-able testing solution for several weeks and it may even be months,” Robinson said. “Longer term, we do think it’s going to be critical. Unfortunately, that solution is not available to us. Hopefully in coming weeks, if not months, that will be part of our protocol.”
But Ford is making arrangements to set up rapid testing of employees as needed with local hospitals, said Gary Johnson, Ford chief manufacturing and labor affairs officer.
There is no target date for a factory restart at this time, Ford emphasized. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer currently has a stay-at-home order in place until May 15.
UAW President Rory Gamble has been firm in his call for testing.
85,000 U.S. workers
Ford employees in China have already been returning to the workplace, and employees in Europe are seeing a return on a staggered scheduled, too.
Jim Farley, chief operating officer at Ford, said safety measures implemented in China have served as a prototype for the company around the globe.
In addition, Ford officials are tracking positive COVID-19 cases and death rates not just around the globe but in counties and specific areas that house Ford factories and other buildings.
“Our decision-making will continue to be guided by this data,” Farley said.
A company news release on Thursday said Ford employed 188,000 people worldwide.
As of the end of 2019, Ford employed approximately 85,000 U.S. workers, including approximately 56,000 hourly workers, spokeswoman Kelli Felker confirmed.
Meanwhile, U.S. production will begin with a limited crew working staggered shifts that includes time for safety “stand-downs” and cleaning, Johnson said.
The line speed for production, however, cannot and will not change.
“It’s almost impossible to do that,” Johnson said.
‘Knock on wood’
When asked about the threat of asymptomatic workers, Farley said he’s confident that protections will be in place to prevent spread of COVID-19 and identify and eliminate risk.
He emphasized he would “absolutely” feel comfortable with his family going to work at a Ford facility. “I think our playbook is benchmark and I completely trust the process we’ve come up with. By the way, we’ve been running for many weeks already in China … and we haven’t had an issue, knock on wood.”
On the restart in North America, Farley said operations are so “intertwined” that the company plans to restart in an “integrated” manner. In the U.S., he said, it’s a complete “ecosystem” and Ford will have to bring up everything at the same time.
There has been discussion among workers about whether Dearborn Truck, Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisvlle or Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri might be top priority because they build the bestselling F-Series pickups.
F-Series alone requires four U.S. plants, approximately 19,000 Ford employees and 2,000 U.S. suppliers — and generates an estimated $50.2 billion in global sales revenue annually, Ford said in a news release. That’s more than the 2019 annual revenues of American Express, Coca-Cola, Cisco Systems and Delta Airlines, Ford noted.
Johnson said, “We would not start up our other sites until we can start here (in Michigan).”
At issue now, in various states including Michigan, Farley said, is getting the go-ahead from political leaders. He noted that Mexico is “very important” to the industrial manufacturing system in North America, as are labor unions worldwide.
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Looking ahead
After the media call outlining safety, Farley took part in a “fireside chat” Thursday hosted by Bank of America to discuss the company’s challenges.
He pointed to smooth launches of the upcoming F-150 and Ford Bronco, noting that the company plans to “stagger launches” in different cities to “de-risk” and “get it right” and avoid problems like those that crippled the Ford Explorer launch.
Farley talked about the importance of cutting warranty costs in 2020 and plans to “be aggressive” in looking for potential efficiencies, though he said the company would make “no news” on specifics just yet.
Tim Stone, chief financial officer at Ford, also took part in the fireside chat. When asked how he felt about the company’s financial situation, he said, “I’m comfortable we have sufficient liquidity to last thru the end of the year.”
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-222-6512or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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