After a two-month-long shut down due to the COVID-19 crisis, U.S. automakers including Ford, GM, and FCA have resumed production at their manufacturing plants with the goals of balancing vehicle supply with consumer demand, while keeping the health and safety of employees as a top priority. The auto manufacturing industry, which creates hundreds of thousands of jobs and accounts for 4% of the nation's economy came to a halt in mid-march as the pandemic forced plants to close. Now, as stay-at-home orders loosen around the country, the Detroit 3 are ramping up production again while taking precautions to protect workers.
After agreeing to a restart date of May 18th with the state of Michigan and the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) and implementing numerous new safety measures, Ford, GM, and FCA opened their doors to employees with a rallying cry of "Let's Restart". Here's what auto manufacturing currently looks like amid a global pandemic.
Workplace Safety Measures
Prior to resuming production, Ford, GM, and FCA created a COVID-19 task force to protect employees and meet the requests of UAW. Since then, all three have implemented extensive safety protocols to keep workers distanced and work areas sanitized. Each automaker has provided personal protective equipment such as face masks, shields, and gloves, and installed markers and reminders for workers to maintain a 6' distance.
Ford has implemented safety measures such as conducting health assessments, providing personal protective equipment, and making facility modifications to practice social distancing. When employees must work within 6' of each other, face shields are required. As an extra layer of protection, Ford also distributed wristwatches that beep when workers get too close to each other.
Changes to the automakers' facilities include sanitizing stations, plexiglass barriers between work stations, and floor markings that encourage distancing. All these measures have proven to help employees feel more at ease in returning to work. According to Kiersten Robinson, Ford's chief human resources officer. After a weekly poll of the entire workforce, 92% of respondents said they felt the company was doing everything it could to make employees feel safe coming to work.
At FCA plants, safety protocols involve a daily health risk assessment including temperature checks and self-screening questionnaires for employees and visitors. Masks and safety glasses are required for everyone in all facilities and the automaker staggered start times and added time for breaks and lunch to limit contact. Thorough cleaning and disinfecting procedures for high traffic areas like restrooms, cafeterias, and conference rooms have been implemented.
GM had kept its Warren, Michigan and Kokomo, Indiana plants open for the production of ventilators which served as a learning tool. After implementing distancing requirements, masks, and health screenings, there has been no person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 at these plants. Now, as the automaker is reopening other plants to resume vehicle production, it is taking even more preventative action including updating the ventilation system so that it pulls 100% from the outside instead of using recycled air.
On its employee-facing webpage, GM's is reassuring workers that they are the priority as plants begin to reopen. "As a global company looking to resume operations properly, we will continue to prioritize the health and safety of our teams and their families throughout the world. From manufacturing facilities to corporate offices, there is no GM employee left behind in this fight against COVID-19. We will resume operations on a cadenced, site-specific timeline, guided by safety, to get back to what we love – building and selling world-class vehicles."
COVID-19 Testing
In addition to making changes to the facility and monitoring employee's health before they enter the facility, automakers are prioritizing COVID-19 testing to isolate any known cases to prevent transmission and a worst-case scenario of an outbreak at one of the plants.
Ford plans to test hourly and salaried employees with suspected COVID-19 symptoms in four metro areas including southeast Michigan, Louisville, Kansas City, and Chicago. These tests will cover more than 72,500 employees. “We are working on quickly expanding testing of symptomatic employees,” said Ken Washington, Ford’s Chief Technology Officer.
GM says it will offer a test to employees who show symptoms of COVID-19 at work, and that workers found to have been exposed to the virus will receive paid time off. FCA employees who exhibit symptoms will be sent to one of five major testing center locations specifically designed for FCA. Same-day appointments and results within 24 hours will help to determine if an employee needs to isolate right away to prevent an outbreak.
A Phased Approach
Not only do the Detroit automakers have to balance the safety of employees with resuming production, but they also have to balance the supply of vehicles with customer demand. Car sales dropped 20% since the start of the pandemic and many dealers have a surplus of inventory. Alternatively, pickup truck sales only dropped by 4% and there is a looming shortage for this segment. Since GM, Ford, and FCA's Ram are all major manufacturers of trucks, they need to restart production to prevent a shortage.
GM resumed production with one shift and plans to expand to three shifts in early June at its plants in Flint, Michigan, Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Arlington, Texas. According to GM spokesman Dan Flores, the company plans to resume production to normal levels by mid-June, but only if demand is there. Fiat Chrysler's CEO Mike Manley shared that sentiment, saying that ramping up production will depend on demand and will vary based on the facility.
Ford began its phased restart on May 18th which includes resuming vehicle production in North America and bringing back the first wave of employees that are not able to do their jobs remotely. Assembly plants that previously operated on three-shift patterns will resume with two-shifts and two-shift plants will return on one shift.
“We’ve been working intently with state and federal governments, our union partners and a cross-section of our workforce to reopen our North American facilities,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s chief operating officer. “We have reopened our facilities in China, successfully begun our phased restart in Europe and have been producing medical equipment in Michigan for more than six weeks and are using the lessons from all of that to ensure we are taking the right precautions to help keep our workforce here safe.”
