Frying Pan Into the Fire -- Chip Shortage

[CobraBob]

Ford says chip shortage will force it to halt or cut production at 8 plants: reports​

The announcement by the major U.S. automaker continued a series of supply-chain setbacks that have affected the nation’s economy in recent months​

By Dom Calicchio FOXBusiness

Ford CFO predicts microchip shortage ‘easing’ this year​

Ford CFO John Lawler says the company is ‘confident’ volumes and earnings will be up 10 to 15% as the semiconductor shortage mitigates.
Difficulties in obtaining semiconductor chips will prompt Ford Motor to temporarily halt or scale back auto production at eight plants in North America, the company said Friday, according to reports.

The announcement by the major U.S. automaker – set to take effect next week -- continued a series of supply-chain setbacks that have affected the nation’s economy in recent months.
Ford had warned Thursday that a lack of chip availability would likely hurt production in the company’s current financial quarter, Reuters reported.

Plants expected to see work suspended by Ford’s decision include those in Michigan, Chicago and Cuautitlan, Mexico, according to Reuters.
Also affected will be plants in Kentucky and Oakville, Ontario, Canada, Reuters added.
In Kansas City, production of Ford’s popular F-150 pickup trucks will be scaled back as one shift produces Transit vans, the news outlet reported.
FORD ‘CONFIDENT’ CAR PRICES, CHIP SHORTAGE WILL EASE THIS YEAR

Other models of Ford vehicles affected by the move include Bronco and Explorer SUVs, Ranger pickups, the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover vehicle and the Lincoln Aviator, CNBC reported.

The 2021 Ford F-150 King Ranch Truck is seen at the Ford Built for America event at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, plant, Sept. 17, 2020. (Getty Images)
On Thursday, Ford missed Wall Street’s earnings expectations, causing shares to drop nearly 10% on Friday, the CNBC report said.
Earlier Friday, Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler appeared on Fox News’ "Mornings with Maria," where he said the company expected the semiconductor shortage to ease later in 2022.
"That's why we're confident in our volumes in 2022 being up about 10 to 15%," Lawler said.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
A rebound in production could help bring down auto prices that have been affected by inflation, he added.
He said the chip shortage, combined with the impact of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, were a difficult 1-2 punch for the automaker in its fourth quarter.

You beat me to it. Just when you hear that the chip shortage is starting to end.....THIS report hits.

 

[me32]

Sadly maybe

His truck has 29k on it and the 4x4 hasnt worked in 6 months

Wasnt it under bumper to bumper still?

 

[q6543]

It's easing/over for companies with vertical integration ie.. Apple, Amazon, Google, tesla.

But companies that are reliant through supplier contracts are still struggling clearly.

 

[Double"O"]

Wasnt it under bumper to bumper still?

Yes...but they cant get parts

 

[me32]

Yes...but they cant get parts

But yet they can build new vehicles with the parts go figure.

 

[CobraBob]

It's easing/over for companies with vertical integration ie.. Apple, Amazon, Google, tesla.

But companies that are reliant through supplier contracts are still struggling clearly.

But aren't those who don't have vertical integration the majority?

 

[SHOdown220]

But yet they can build new vehicles with the parts go figure.

Unfortunately it seems they are prioritizing parts for new vehicles vs replacement parts for service departments and existing owners vehicles. My wife's Pilot has been sitting at the body shop since christmas eve we are only waiting on a side mirror at this point but still showing B/O no eta. All the while I'm seeing new Pilots with the same mirror rolling in to the showroom.

 

[Weather Man]

The pain continues.


Reuters

Ford suspends or cuts output at plants due to chip shortage​

21m ago
© Reuters/REBECCA COOK

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Monday it will continue idling some of its assembly plants in the week of Feb. 14 due to the global semiconductor shortage.

The U.S. automaker will idle production at its Ohio Assembly Plant as well as the production line for the Transit van at its Kansas City Assembly Plant, spokeswoman Kelli Felker said in an email. It also will operate with reduced shifts at its Kentucky Truck, Chicago and Dearborn (Michigan) Truck assembly plants.

Last week, Ford suspended or cut production at eight plants in North America due to the shortage. Ford previously said the current quarter would be its low point for vehicle production due to the chip shortage.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Jason Neely)

 

[tones_RS3]

The pain continues.


Reuters

Ford suspends or cuts output at plants due to chip shortage​

21m ago
© Reuters/REBECCA COOK
View attachment 1738100
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Monday it will continue idling some of its assembly plants in the week of Feb. 14 due to the global semiconductor shortage.

The U.S. automaker will idle production at its Ohio Assembly Plant as well as the production line for the Transit van at its Kansas City Assembly Plant, spokeswoman Kelli Felker said in an email. It also will operate with reduced shifts at its Kentucky Truck, Chicago and Dearborn (Michigan) Truck assembly plants.

Last week, Ford suspended or cut production at eight plants in North America due to the shortage. Ford previously said the current quarter would be its low point for vehicle production due to the chip shortage.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Jason Neely)

Yup.
A friend of a friend says they are not working because of chip/parts shortages. What a ****ing mess.

 

[Weather Man]

Autoblog

Ford Broncos piling up again in a Michigan holding lot​

Jonathon Ramsey - 2h ago

Bronco fever hasn't abated; buyers are still clamoring for the world's most recent hardcore off-roader. We'd normally consider this a good problem for Ford to have, but these aren't normal times and the Bronco isn't a normal vehicle. Two years of industry disruptions have dropped continuous bombs on delivery times, on top of Bronco-specific ailments like the defective tops that led to huge backups last summer — and all this for a rig that some buyers first signed up to buy in 2020. Automotive News reports that the chip shortage is biting especially hard into Bronco deliveries at the moment, with trucks stacking up in a lot outside the Michigan Assembly Plant that online watchers dubbed "Dirt Mountain," the coming of a snowy Michigan winter changing the name to "Ice Mountain."

Both Ford Motor Company and Ford dealers admit this is about the lack of chips. The automaker's dealer council head believes the current process is the most efficient, with Ford continuing Bronco production and waiting on chips before delivery. Ford isn't the only automaker doing this so-called "build-shy strategy," and we saw the same thing a year ago when pickups were in the spotlight, F-150s hoarded in parking lots across the country while Ford waited for those infernal shards of silicon. Buyers seem to appreciate the difficulties of keeping product flowing in the current climate. What they haven't appreciated is Ford's lack of communication during the process. Ford CEO Jim Farley told Bloomberg last week in relation to another issue, "All we can do at this point is scale as fast as we can and break the constraints and communicate to (buyers) what’s realistic." This isn't what's happening, supposedly. One Bronco buyer who spoke to AN said, "I do think they could be communicating better," another said he hadn't got "any transparency on Ford's end," a third described Ford's forthrightness as "nonexistent."
That other issue, the one covered by Bloomberg, is Ford allocations. The allocation formula is exacerbating the anger some Bronco reservation holders already feel about the lack of communication. Dealers and reservation holders thought Bronco orders would be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis. Instead, Ford decided 50% of production would be for reservation holders, 25% would factor in dealer location, the final 25% would consider a dealer's historic sales figures. That weighted half the formula in favor of dealers in large markets. Then Ford changed the calculus to factor in Bronco Sport sales as well. Then Ford lowered the threshold for the percentage of Broncos a dealer needed provide to reservation holders out of the allocation, the result being that "four out of 10 new Broncos can go to a walk-in customer or the highest bidder." Some shoppers who reserved Broncos in 2020 still don't have their trucks, yet they're reading stories about people who ordered Broncos recently getting their trucks delivered, or people buying Broncos off the dealer lot. As an aside to all of this, when buyers turn cynical about Ford going after dealers for markups on the battery-electric F-150 Lightning, this is partly why.
In an e-mailed statement to AutoNews, Ford said a "few thousand" trucks have been held back, and "our teams have been working on how to maximize production, with a continued commitment to building every high-demand vehicle for our customers with the quality they expect. Our goal is to have all updated in the next 90 days, pending chip availability."
As for the trucks waiting on Ice Mountain, their buyers likely feel the same as the buyer who told AN, "I'm of the mindset that if my vehicle is going to get trashed by the elements, I'd like to be the one doing it."

 

[Weather Man]

Chip export curbs to Russia may help autos's?

 

[Weather Man]

motor1.com

Ford F-150 Production Shuts Down For The Second Time In A Month​

Jacob Oliva - 9h ago

© Motor1.com Copyright

1 of 41 Photos in Gallery©© Motor1.com Copyright

2021 Ford F-150 Exterior Front Quarter​

You probably know why at this point.​

Ford is temporarily shutting down the production of the F-150 at one of its plants this week. According to a Reuters report, the Blue Oval is poised to halt the production of its best-seller because of the ongoing semiconductor shortage – a global crisis that has already affected various industries, including automobile production.

The production pause will be the second one for this month, following the reduction of output in Michigan and Missouri assembly plants earlier in February.
Reuters reports that only the Kansas City assembly plant in Claycomo, Missouri will be experiencing the production pause. The F-150 plant in Dearborn, Michigan will continue its production, Ford said.

However, the issue isn't just affecting the automobile output. United Auto Workers Local 249, the union representing workers at the Claycomo plant, said that the week-long shutdown also means that certain employees will be temporarily laid-off. Of note, affected workers will not report to work until March 7, 2022, unless notified otherwise.

The production woes earlier this month involved most of Ford's hot-selling vehicles, including the Bronco. Other Ford products affected by the pause included the Ranger, Explorer, Mustang Mach-E, and Lincoln Aviator at the company’s plants in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, and Mexico.

As mentioned, the output of the F-150 and Transit in Michigan and Missouri has been reduced as well. All of these as a result of the global chip crisis.

Blue Oval Production Updates:​

• Unfinished Ford Bronco SUVs Sit And Wait For Chips In Open Lot
• Ford GT Production To End In December 2022

"The global semiconductor shortage continues to affect Ford’s North American plants – along with automakers and other industries around the world," the automaker said in a statement sent to CNBC. "Behind the scenes, we have teams working on how to maximize production, with a continued commitment to building every high-demand vehicle for our customers with the quality they expect."
Source: Reuters

 

[Weather Man]

You know, I'm sick of this shit.

Investors are also fearful of another disruption to the fragile global supply chain due to China's zero-COVID strategy. For example, a lockdown has been declared for the southeastern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, which features the world's biggest electronics suppliers, while the nearby key port of Yantian could also be impacted. While the lockdown is set to last for one week, any additional disruptions - or other cities that are added to the lockdown list - could cause additional supply chain chaos. Tesla suspends Shanghai factory ops as COVID-19 outbreak worsens.

 

[OX1]

Unfortunately it seems they are prioritizing parts for new vehicles vs replacement parts for service departments and existing owners vehicles. My wife's Pilot has been sitting at the body shop since christmas eve we are only waiting on a side mirror at this point but still showing B/O no eta. All the while I'm seeing new Pilots with the same mirror rolling in to the showroom.

Put on an BLM T-shirt, triple facemask, sun glasses, and go take one off a lot.

 

[SHOdown220]

Put on an BLM T-shirt, triple facemask, sun glasses, and go take one off a lot.

LOL. We actually just got it back on friday. 2.5 months to get it repaired. Probably only a few actual days of repair work, the rest of it was waiting on parts.

 

[tones_RS3]

You know, I'm sick of this shit.

Investors are also fearful of another disruption to the fragile global supply chain due to China's zero-COVID strategy. For example, a lockdown has been declared for the southeastern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, which features the world's biggest electronics suppliers, while the nearby key port of Yantian could also be impacted. While the lockdown is set to last for one week, any additional disruptions - or other cities that are added to the lockdown list - could cause additional supply chain chaos. Tesla suspends Shanghai factory ops as COVID-19 outbreak worsens.

I'm with you man.
I'm so sick of this shit too.

The inner conspiracy theorist in me says this is "all planned".

 

[Weather Man]

Pretty amazing, maybe they will start to catch up.

Semiconductor market FY22 targets growth at 10.4%, down from 26.2% in 2021​

SOXX -0.20%Mar. 22, 2022 12:46 AM ET

• World Semiconductor Trade Statistics shows global semiconductor market sales at $556B in 2021 - an increase of 26.2% from 2020.
• The largest growth contributors were the Analog category with 33.1%, Memory with 30.9% and Logic with 30.8%; Sensors and Discrete Semiconductors had a growth rate in the range of 28%.

• Growth was somewhat lower in the Micro category at 15.1% and Optoelectronics at 7.4%.
• Worldwide semiconductor market is expected to increase by 10.4% in 2022 which corresponds to sales of $613.5B.
• By far the strongest growth is expected for Americas (16.4%), while lower growth rates are expected in Europe (10.8%), Japan (9.7%) and APAC (8.3%).

 

[bullitt2735]

Chip shortage isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Both my wife and I work for large semi conductor companies and the parts shortage is just as bad as the auto industry if not worse. Where I work its hard for us to get the parts that build the tools that helps build the chips because of supplier constraints. And we haven't even gone into how the lasers used in production of chips which need neon, which where does the world get its neon from? Ukraine! This isn't much of an issue right now but it will be a large one at some point if something doesn't change.

 

[TORQUERULES]

Our wonderful global economy is really showing its weakness.

 

[Weather Man]

Forbes

China Auto Billionaire’s Geely Sees No End To Chip Shortage That Cut ’21 Profit​

Russell Flannery, Forbes Staff - 5h ago

Geely Automobile Holdings, the China automaker controlled by billionaire Li Shufu, said today there’s no end in sight to chip shortages and other problems that contributed to a drop in profit in 2021.

“The intensified competition in China, the rise in raw material prices, other pandemic-related disruptions and global shortage of chip supply have showed no sign of subsiding and should continue to put pressure on the sales performance and profitability of the group in 2022,” Geely said in its 2021 earnings report today.

“Our group’s financial performance in 2021 was below the management’s original expectations primarily due to the global shortage of chip supply during the year,” it noted.
Revenue increased by 10% to 101.6 billion yuan, or $16 billion, for the year ended Dec. 31; net profit dropped by 22% to 4.4 billion yuan.
Geely Auto is controlled by Li’s main holding company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which in turn controls global brands including Volvo and Polestar; it also holds a stake in Daimler of Germany.

China is the world’s largest auto maker, and Li – also known as Eric Li — is the country’s richest auto industry entrepreneur with a fortune worth $25 billion on the Forbes Billionaire List today. The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares have lost 46% of their value in the past year.

Geely Auto will work to increase the number of new energy vehicles in its product mix, today’s report said. (See link here.) The company faces bruising competition, however, from Tesla and a pack of Chinese incumbents and upstarts such as XPeng, and Warren Buffett-backed BYD. Beijing-headquartered Xiaomi, the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, yesterday reaffirmed its intent to enter the auto maker in 2024. (See related post here.)