Chicago Ford plant braces for series of week-long closures

BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com

CHICAGO | As sales of the products produced at the Chicago Ford Assembly Plant continue to dive,� the plant is scheduled Monday to begin a series of week-long halts in production.

It's the first of eight scheduled production halts.

The current schedule, as supplied by members of United Auto Workers Local 551, has the plant on "down time" for the weeks of Feb. 16, March 30, April 6, April 13, May 4, May 11, June 1 and June 8.

Production schedules always are subject to change.

"We haven't discussed second quarter production yet," said Ford spokeswoman Angie Kozleski, who wouldn't confirm the plant's projected down time. "We line up capacity with demand."

The facility at the intersection of 130th Street and Torrence Avenue eliminated one of its two production shifts in early November, cutting its 2,200-member work force -- including permanently laying off about 600 temporary workers -- in anticipation of slowing vehicle demand. The plant also stopped production of the Ford Taurus X and Mercury Sable this month.

Sales of all products made at the plant, except the Lincoln MKS, dropped in January from December and over the previous year's data. The MKS was launched in November.

In January, sales of the Ford Taurus dropped 51 percent from the previous month. Taurus X January sales fell 10 percent from December numbers, however, the vehicle sales were 60.7 percent lower than in January 2008. Sales of the Mercury Sable fell 51.1 percent.

The 2010 Taurus, to be produced at the plant beginning in the spring, will be in dealers showrooms this summer, Kozleski said. The redesigned Taurus has received rave reviews from auto enthusiasts and is expected to sell well.