Most on this forum seem to be intelligent and reasonable people but for those who think this is only a Ford issue you can do a quick Google search and find many pictures of GM trucks, SUVs and sedans along with Ford and other manufacturer vehicles sitting on lots, similar to Ice Mountain, waiting for chips. A good friend of mine just tried to order a new Chevy High Country dually and was told by the worldâs largest GM dealer in northern ID that heâs up to 12 months out but that was pure speculation on his part and he really didnât know. He did tell my friend that GM/Chevy are leasing vacant lots at shut down malls and other places to store trucks waiting for chips.
That said itâs obvious Ford, GM and other manufacturers are continuing to run manufacturing lines and stock pile vehicles that are short chips. Their alternative is to shut down lines temporarily and either pay or furlough workers then attempt to shut off the supply chain for all other components to prevent stock piling nearly complete sets of materials for unassembled vehicles. In manufacturing once capacity is lost itâs never recovered so in the case of chip shortages the best solution is to build, hold and wait for chips. This is the tactic we used in the smaller, $5 billion, company I worked at for a long time. We were often criticized for doing this by consultants who told us the auto industry would never result to such inefficient practices but would rather ensure 100% material availability. But, I visited several automotive plants during my career and the people on the ground readily admitted theyâd build short a part and move vehicles to the parking lot for a short period of time waiting for the part so this isnât a new practice itâs just never been done this widespread.
In summary, and in support of speculation of some on this thread, when the parts came in theyâd prioritize the lines and feed excess parts to the previous built units in the holding areas. This is the most efficient practice since you donât have to touch the units running down the line later; itâs also what we did. The factory I worked in wasnât in the auto industry but did, and still does, share many common suppliers and contract manufacturers such as Foxconn and Flex.
That said itâs obvious Ford, GM and other manufacturers are continuing to run manufacturing lines and stock pile vehicles that are short chips. Their alternative is to shut down lines temporarily and either pay or furlough workers then attempt to shut off the supply chain for all other components to prevent stock piling nearly complete sets of materials for unassembled vehicles. In manufacturing once capacity is lost itâs never recovered so in the case of chip shortages the best solution is to build, hold and wait for chips. This is the tactic we used in the smaller, $5 billion, company I worked at for a long time. We were often criticized for doing this by consultants who told us the auto industry would never result to such inefficient practices but would rather ensure 100% material availability. But, I visited several automotive plants during my career and the people on the ground readily admitted theyâd build short a part and move vehicles to the parking lot for a short period of time waiting for the part so this isnât a new practice itâs just never been done this widespread.
In summary, and in support of speculation of some on this thread, when the parts came in theyâd prioritize the lines and feed excess parts to the previous built units in the holding areas. This is the most efficient practice since you donât have to touch the units running down the line later; itâs also what we did. The factory I worked in wasnât in the auto industry but did, and still does, share many common suppliers and contract manufacturers such as Foxconn and Flex.
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. With Dirt Mountain officially closed out I started thinking about our #NoBroncoLeftBehind slogan.
