Ford extends plant hours for the summer

Sales of Escape, Explorer, Edge and F-Series spur longer hours

For the third straight year, Ford is shortening its annual summer shutdown. Ford usually has a two-week break period in June/July, but some plants will stay open during the second week of this year.

The reason is a good one. Ford saw a big increase in sales for the F-150 and Edge, as well as the Escape and the Explorer in the first quarter of this year. The Blue Oval plans to make 40,000 extra units because of the sales increase.

Assembly plants that will have a shortened shutdown period are:

Chicago

Dearborn Truck

Kansas City

Kentucky Truck

Louisville

Oakville

The powertrain and stamping plants include:

Livonia Transmission

Rawsonville Transmission

Sharonville Transmission

Sterling Axle

Buffalo Stamping

Chicago Stamping

Dearborn Consolidated

Kansas City Stamping

Kentucky Stamping

Woodhaven Stamping

The plants listed above will only shutdown for the week starting on Monday, June 29; all other plants will be closed June 29-July 10 for maintenance and machine retooling. Ford has invested $6.2 billion and added 15,000 jobs to facilities throughout the U.S. The auto industry looks to be on the rise, according to the most recent sales numbers.