Ford Drops Shift at Medium-Duty Truck Plant in Ohio

Ford Motor Co. will eliminate a production shift at its Ohio Truck Plant in Avon Lake on Monday and doesn’t expect to restore it until the end of September, Automotive News reports.

The move will cut output of F-650 and F750 medium-duty trucks because of slow sales. Ford predicts demand will revive when it introduces replacement 2018-model trucks this autumn.

Ford tells AN the plant’s 1,600 hourly workers built 4,900 trucks in the first quarter. The production cut will idle 130 workers, most of whom will continue to receive about 75% of their pay.

Ford announced in March 2014 it was moving production of its 2016 model medium-duty F-Series trucks to Ohio from Mexico. The move helped bolster production there when the Avon Lake plant phased out Ford’s E-Series van.