Production at the Ford plant in Cologne was idle for months. It finally started again on Monday – with an abrupt end.
Due to semiconductor delivery problems, the car manufacturer Ford in Cologne has to shut down its production again. There were corona-related failures at a semiconductor manufacturer in Malaysia, which led to delivery problems at a door module supplier, said a Ford spokesman. The «Bild» had previously reported on it.
Fiesta production in Cologne had already been suspended from the beginning of May to mid-July due to semiconductor problems – this involved technology for other components. It was not until Monday that the workforce returned to the production halls after their month-long work holiday to resume assembly of small Fiesta cars. But the production will be a short interlude, as they greeted them with a letter about the delivery bottlenecks. In it, the executive suite announced that due to the lack of door modules, short-time work would be requested for the next two weeks (from August 17th). It may take even longer, as the letter indicates. Because the supply of material in the week from September 6th is “still uncertain”, as the letter shows.
Semiconductor supply problems are causing problems for the entire automotive industry, and other manufacturers have had to stop their production in the meantime due to a lack of components. Ford has around 15,000 employees in Cologne, 5000 of them in Fiesta production. The rest is active in development, administration and other areas – Cologne serves the US car company as its German and European headquarters.
The second Ford location in Germany is Saarlouis in Saarland. The factory vacation ends there at the beginning of next week. The production of the Focus model there is not affected by the current delivery bottlenecks, said the company spokesman. Production will be resumed there as planned.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
