Thanks to supplier constraints, Ford has been forced to slow production of its F-150 pickup truck.
According to Automotive News, Ford has cancelled some scheduled overtime at its two plants that produce the pickup. The problem stems from a shortage of frames provided by a supplier named Metalsa, said Todd Hillyard, the bargaining chairman representing UAW workers at Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant.
It appears that the shortage has been going on for some time. According to Hillyard, Ford originally said it hoped to resolve the issue after the Easter weekend ending April 5. On May 12, Ford released a statement saying the F-150 has reached full production in Dearborn and that it expects the same for its Kansas City plant sometime this quarter.
“As with all our vehicle launches, we are working closely with our suppliers to meet customer demand for the truck," Ford added.
Since the aluminum F-150 is completely new for the 2015 model year, it has taken Ford time to adjust its plants to accommodate the new model. April was the first month that the redesigned 2015 accounted for half of retail sales. During that month, however, Ford produced fewer F-150s than it did a year ago.
In April, Ford churned out 29,373 F-150 trucks, or 9.2 percent fewer than in April 2014. The same is true for the automaker's Kansas City plant, which produced 28 percent fewer trucks in April compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, total F-Series sales including Super Duty trucks declined slightly that month but were up 1.4 percent for the year.
This article originally appeared on MSN.
