• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • The End of an Era for Rolls-Royce
  • South Carolina Provides $1.29 Billion Incentive for new Scout Factory
  • Hyundai and Kia Criticized about Stolen Car Problems by Attorneys General
  • Dodge Rolls Out Final “Last Call” Model: a 1,025-Hp Challenger SRT Demon 170
  • Acura’s New Integra Type S Launching with 320 Hp
  • First Look: Ferrari Roma Spider
  • What do Americans Think of EV Ownership Today?
  • Challenger Fain Edges Closer to UAW Presidency
  • Week Ahead: All About the Cars — Except for the UAW Part
  • The Rearview Mirror: Birth of a Sports Car Legend
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • First Drive: 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70
    • First Drive: 2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce AWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Jeep Compass Limited
    • A Week With: 2023 Cadillac Escalade V-Series
    • A Week With: 2023 Volvo XC40 AWD Ultimate
    • First Drive: 2024 Subaru Crosstrek
    • First Drive: 2023 Lexus RZ 450e
    • A Week With: 2023 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Manual
    • First Impression: 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
    • A Week With: 2023 Chevrolet Blazer RS AWD
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automobiles > Detroit Makers Struggle with Production Shortages

        Detroit Makers Struggle with Production Shortages

        Ford adds 3rd F-Series shift in Kansas City; Chrysler struggle to re-start Toledo plant.

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        Aug. 05, 2013
        A new Ford F-150 rolls off the maker's assembly line in Kansas City, Missouri.

        Toyota surged into second place in the U.S. auto market last month, slipping past perennial second-place maker Ford Motor Co. with a 16.5% jump in July sales.

        By comparison, Ford gained a more modest 11% in volume year-over-year, well behind the overall surge in the rebounding U.S. market. But the maker insists it would have done significantly better if it simply had the capacity to keep up.  Ford dealers report they’re struggling to meet demand for the maker’s full-size F-Series pickups. And Ford is not alone.

        While Chrysler reported an 11% gain for July – its 40th consecutive monthly increase in demand – the maker’s Jeep brand was one of the few marques to suffer a sales decline. That’s largely the result of the slow ramp-up of Chrysler’s Toledo assembly plant which has been shuttered for months as it prepares for the roll-out of the new Jeep Cherokee model.

        A Productive Addition to Your Reading List!

        “They’re being held back by capacity constraints,” said Dave Sullivan, Detroit-based auto analyst with consulting firm AutoPacific, Inc., noting that the domestic makers are “slowly adding capacity back after taking so much out during the recession.”

        Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne now says he hopes to never have to completely idle a plant during a model changeover again. In the meantime, the maker is struggling to get the Toledo plant up to speed with sales of the new ute expected to begin in little more than a month.

        Ford, meanwhile, is taking several steps to resolve its production shortfalls.  The most immediate is the addition of a third shift at its pickup plant in Kansas City, Missouri. The move will require another 900 hourly workers – good news for an economy where most job growth has been in the low-wage and part-time categories. For Ford, that could add up to several thousand more F-Series pickups a week.

        Better yet, it will further enhance capacity utilization, a fancy way of saying it requires little fixed cost investments since the maker will be able to utilize existing plant tooling.

        Detroit automakers have been reluctant to invest in new factories after emerging from a recession that forced them to close scores of parts and assembly plants across North America – for Ford, that included F-Series pickup lines in Virginia and in Canada.

        Going into the Great Recession, some of their facilities were operating below 50% capacity, a guaranteed way to lose money. Today, however, many domestic auto plants are already operating at well above 100% of straight-time, two-shift capacity, forcing manufacturers to look at their options if they don’t want to hand business to their competitors.

        There are potential issues with going the three-shift route, which analyst Sullivan calls “a pretty significant thing to do.” It means adding a lot of new manpower that involves a lot of training up front while there could be hefty cost penalties later if demand cools and Ford has to drop a shift.

        But is certainly less expensive than building a new plant – and gets production going a lot more quickly. Ford is adding some brick-and-mortar, however, with a $1.1 billion expansion of the Missouri plant underway. When completed, the maker will add yet another 2,000 jobs to handle production of the new Transit commercial van.

        Along with the Kansas City facility, Ford also plans to add production of its hot-selling Fusion sedan at a factory in Flat Rock, Michigan, just south of Detroit. That facility was run as a joint venture between Ford and Mazda until last year, when the Asian maker pulled out and shifted assembly of its Mazda6 sedan back to Japan. Ford is also planning to increase production of the compact Escape crossover-utility vehicle.

        General Motors has also been struggling to meet capacity for some of its key models, investing in some plant expansion programs where necessary, adding shifts at other facilities.

        And the Detroit makers aren’t the only ones struggling to deal with capacity constraints as the U.S. market recovers from its worst downturn in more than half a century.  Sales last month worked out to an annualized rate of 15.8 million compared to the 14.5 million new vehicles sold in the United States last year.

        Among the brands facing the toughest challenge are Korean siblings Hyundai and Kia. John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America recently warned that even though the maker will almost certainly set a new sales record this year it will likely lose market share because it doesn’t have the capacity to keep up with the overall pace of the American market recovery. Hyundai and Kia officials are now looking at ways to expand operations at their plants in Alabama and Georgia, respectively.

        Complicating matters for auto manufacturers like Ford and Hyundai, “There’s also capacity issues with suppliers,” cautions analyst Sullivan. Like their customers, auto parts makers slashed both production and excess capacity during the recession and now are struggling to keep up with demand. That’s a bottleneck that could constrain automotive assembly plants for several years to come, industry observers warn.

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published
        2023 Rolls-Royce Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow nose REL

        The End of an Era for Rolls-Royce

        Yesterday
        Scout in neon on grille

        South Carolina Provides $1.29 Billion Incentive for new Scout Factory

        Yesterday
        2018 Hyundai Sonata front

        Hyundai and Kia Criticized about Stolen Car Problems by Attorneys General

        Yesterday

        One response to “Detroit Makers Struggle with Production Shortages”

        1. Jorge M. says:
          August 6, 2013 at 9:09 am

          Unfortunately the new jobs created now will be eliminated in a few years once the market is once again saturated with 2-3 new leased vehicles in every driveway.

          Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: