April 28 (SeeNews) - The Romanian unit of US car maker Ford Motor Company said on Tuesday that its plant in Craiova will gradually resume production, starting May 4.
Manufacturing will resume in a phased approach at the Vehicle Assembly Operations and Engine Plant in Romania and at most of Ford’s main manufacturing sites in continental Europe, Ford Europe said in a press release.
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Production will start at a low level, prioritizing sold customer vehicle orders from dealers, and will gradually be ramped-up over the next few months before full production is resumed. The production plans take into account supplier readiness, national movement restrictions, Ford dealer sales sites reopening in key markets, as well as customer demand.
"We need to prepare for a new environment once we are past the initial peak of the Coronavirus pandemic in Europe, with the key priority in our ‘return to work’ plan being the implementation of Ford’s global standards on social distancing and strengthened health and safety protocols in the workplace. Our employees need to know that we are taking the appropriate steps to safeguard their well-being at work," Ford Europe president Stuart Rowley said.
A limited number of employees have continued to work on company sites over recent weeks to ensure the ongoing provision of critical services. From May 4, these activities also will begin to ramp up on a progressive basis towards more normal business levels, Ford Europe noted.
Employees in non-production areas also will start to return in a phased approach from May 4, with priority given to those participating in key restart planning and business critical activities, or whose job functions require them to use specialized equipment only available at Ford sites, such as vehicle testing devices.
Other non-production employees who can work remotely will continue to do so for the present time, including those employees on short-time working arrangements, the company added.
On April 3, Ford Romania announced that its production plant in Craiova will remain closed until May 4 at least due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All Ford Romania employees will remain in technological unemployment until April 30.
On March 19, Ford Romania announced that it will temporarily halt production in Craiova and will send its employees in technological unemployment because of the coronavirus epidemic. Ford employees will be paid 78% of their salary while they are in technological unemployment, Ford Romania said.
In February, Ford said it expects a record daily volume of production this year at its vehicle assembly plant in Craiova. Over 1,000 Puma and EcoSport compact SUVs will be assembled daily at the plant in southern Romania, meaning that a car will roll out every 67 seconds, Ford Romania said at the time.
Ford said earlier that it has invested over 1.5 billion euro ($1.64 billion) in its Craiova site since 2008 and has reached a total of 6,300 employees, working in both the vehicle assembly plant and the engine plant.
($ = 0.9222 euro)
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