Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) Suspends Operations In Various Plants Due To freezing Weather Which Affected Power Supply
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has shut most of its assembly plants because of the US’s freezing weather that interrupted gas supplies. Car manufacturing plants in the southern US and Mexico have been affected by the interruptions.
Northern Mexican states experience natural gas supply outages
The cold snap overwhelmed the Texas power grid with natural gas supplies from Texas to Mexico affected leaving millions of people in Mexico’s industrial northern states without power. The freezing temperatures that started at the beginning of the week are likely to last up to Saturday in Texas.
It is important to note that Mexico relies on natural gas to generate power, mostly from the US. Also, the countries required extensive supply chains to operate optimally for supply auto as well as other industrial operations across the border. Six northern states in Mexico experienced considerable power outages, which triggered temporary operations shutdowns at assembly plants. According to the Mexican auto association AMIA, around five plants were affected since Tuesday forcing them to cut natural gas consumption by 20-30%.
Automakers suspend operations at various plants
Ford said that the adverse weather led to its temporary shutdown of the Michigan, Kentucky, and Kansas City plants and its Hermosillo plant in Sonora State in Mexico. The company’s operations in the Kansas factory have been idled from February 13 through February 22. Besides Ford, Volkswagen also indicated that it will suspend Mexico’s production because of its limited gas supply. Equally, the gas supply cut affected General Motors Co and Audias’s operations.
On Thursday, GM said that they first canceled operations at Arlington, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Spring Hill. The company expects the Arlington, Texas, and Spring Hill, Tennessee factories to shit for the second shift.
The winter weather has also affected Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor’s operations. Toyota indicated that its Texas plant would be idled, and first shifts will not operate at the Alabama and Mississippi plants on Thursday. Nissan said that its operations at the Canton, Mississippi, and Smyrna, Tennessee, will be suspended.