Ford hires second supplier to help with F-150 frame production - Automotive News
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is bringing a second supplier of steel frames for the F-150 on board to ease a supply shortage that has slowed production for months, a person with knowledge of the matter told Automotive News. The move resolves a longstanding situation that has hindered Ford’s ability to rebuild inventories of the highly profitable truck, which was redesigned for the 2015 model year with a lighter, aluminum body. Ford has been shipping frames hundreds of miles from Kentucky to Michigan and Missouri in small batches by truck, rather than via train as it normally would, to keep its F-150 assembly lines running. Tower already builds body structures for the F-series and several other Ford models, according to regulatory filings. Tower, in its second-quarter earnings report last week, said it received “a major follow-on new business award” worth $140 million in annual revenue, without naming the customer. A Tower spokesman would not confirm whether Ford is the customer referenced in the earnings report. The plant formerly made frames for the Ford Ranger pickup and Econoline vans. Ford’s decision to source F-150 frames from Tower was first reported this afternoon by The Wall Street Journal , which said Tower would begin supplying them in October. Source: www.autonews.com
