Ford Motor Co. is joining its crosstown rivals to restart its North American assembly plants beginning May 18.
As part of a phased restart, Ford’s North American parts depots will resume full operations Monday.
Employees who can work remotely will continue to do so until Ford notifies them otherwise.
“We’ve been working intently with state and federal governments, our union partners and a cross-section of our workforce to reopen our North American facilities,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s chief operating officer.
Farley said Ford will draw on its experience in other factories to protect workers from coronavirus.
“We have reopened our facilities in China, successfully begun our phased restart in Europe and have been producing medical equipment in Michigan for more than six weeks and are using the lessons from all of that to ensure we are taking the right precautions to help keep our workforce here safe,” Farley said.
Michigan restart
On Tuesday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors said they would restart most of their factories beginning May 18. As the Free Press first reported, GM will be bringing workers in on Monday to prepare the plants and train on safety protocols.
More: GM tells UAW members its planned date to begin factory restarts
More: Michigan manufacturing can resume production Monday, auto plants to restart May 18
On Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Michigan manufacturing can resume production on Monday.
All three automakers shut down their assembly plants in March as the pandemic spread and the UAW pressured them to protect the 150,000 autoworkers in the plants.
“We all knew this day would come at some point,” said UAW President Rory Gamble. “While the companies have the sole contractual right to determine the opening of plants, our UAW focus and role is, and will continue to be, on health and safety protocols in which we have the contractual right to protect our members.”
Gamble said the union will continue to advocate for as much testing as possible and eventually full testing when available.
‘Time to adjust’
On May 18, Ford’s North American assembly plants previously operating on three-shift patterns will return with two shifts. Most of those that were running on two shifts will return on one shift and most one-shift plants will operate on one shift, Ford said.
Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Flat Rock and Oakville Assembly Complex in Oakville, Ontario, will resume production the week of May 25 on one shift.
Ford said its components plants will restart production as needed.
The ramp-up will allow workers to adjust to the new health and safety protocols in the plants. It will also allow the supply chain to come up to speed.
“We’ve developed these safety protocols in coordination with our union partners, especially the UAW, and we all know it will take time to adjust to them,” said Gary Johnson, Ford’s chief manufacturing and labor officer. “We are in this together and plan to return to our normal operating patterns as soon as we are confident the system is ready to support.”
12,000 to return
Ford will also bring back about 12,000 employees, starting May 18, whose jobs cannot be done remotely. Those include product development, vehicle testing and design, IT, facilities management “and more,” it said.
Ford said this staggered approach allows it to implement new safety protocols and provide personal protective equipment for employees as they return to work.
The Dearborn-based automaker has compiled a Manufacturing Return to Work Playbook.
Some of the safety protocols include:
- Daily online employee and visitor health self-certifications completed before work every day.
- Employees or visitors who indicate they may have symptoms or may have been exposed to the virus will be denied access to Ford facilities.
- No-touch temperature scans upon arrival — anyone with a raised temperature will not be permitted to enter and will need to be cleared of symptoms before returning to work.
- Required face masks for everyone entering a Ford facility.
- Every Ford team member will be provided a care kit including face masks and other items to help keep them healthy at work.
For jobs that don’t allow for social distancing, safety glasses with side shields or face shields will be required.
Also, Ford said there will be more time between shifts to limit employee interaction and allow for cleaning.
Ford is making face masks at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant for use at its North American factories and face shields at its Troy Design & Manufacturing facility in Plymouth.
Ford said a company-provided face mask will be required for anyone working at a Ford site and in some instances safety glasses or face shields will be required.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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