Ford Restarting Manufacturing in Europe on May 4
Photo: Ford
Ford Motor Company announced that it plans to start ramping production back up at several of its plants starting May 4. The automaker will take a phased approach to opening up its manufacturing facilities, starting with Germany’s Saarlouis Vehicle Assembly Operations, Cologne Assembly Operations, and Cologne Engine Plant; Spain’s Valencia Vehicle Assembly Operations; and Romania’s Craiova Vehicle Assembly Operations and Engine Plant.
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Production will begin at a reduced degree to ensure that employees are safe and to give suppliers and dealers time to ramp back up as well. Per Ford’s global standards for social distancing, anyone entering a Ford facility will be required to wear a face mask and have their body temperature checked, and employees must take a daily wellness self-assessment to ensure that they’re fit and healthy for duty.
“Maintaining the health of our workforce is the top priority when restarting production and returning to work at our plants,” said Martin Hennig, chairman, Ford European Works Council. “Our union leaders across Europe have agreed on far-reaching measures for the best possible protection for our employees, which go beyond the nationally prescribed measures and apply to all our plants in Europe.”
Valencia Engine re-opening May 18, no date set for U.K. plants
On May 4, certain business-critical employees, including those who will help roll out the restart and engineers who need to test vehicles, will begin returning to non-manufacturing facilities in a phased approach.
After the initial operations ramp up, Ford intends to reopen the Valencia Engine Plant on May 18. No re-open dates have been announced for the Dagenham and Bridgend Engine Plants in the United Kingdom. As production gets back up to speed, Ford will also continue to manufacture its own face masks for use at its facilities in Europe.
Ford originally suspended production in Europe on March 19.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.