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Ford's Ohio truck plant lays off 130 workers as demand lags

Xinhua, May 5, 2017 Adjust font size:

130 workers have been temporarily laid off from Ford's truck plant in Ohio as demand lags for medium-duty trucks built there, according to Ford's announcement released on Thursday.

Ford said Ohio plant's F-650 and F-750 trucks sales are slumping because the trucks, mostly used for construction or other work, are near the end of their product life cycle.

"We expect demand to pick back up again in September," Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said. "Some fleets are waiting to place their order until the new model year."

Ford moved production of its commercial F-650 and F-750 trucks from Mexico to Ohio in 2015 and used the decision to deflect criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump during the campaign, when he sharply criticized the car maker's decision to move production south of the border.

The layoffs will last more than four months, from May 8 until the end of September. The automaker said most of the layoffs will be voluntary. Effected employees, if they have at least one year seniority, will receive roughly 75 percent of their pay while on leave.

Summer shutdowns by automakers aren't uncommon in the industry as current demand trends and model roll-out timelines are factored in.

Ford invested 168 million U.S. dollars in the plant at the time to convert it from making Econoline vans to commercial trucks.

Sales of Ford's heavy trucks fell 20.2 percent in April and are down 10.7 percent in 2017 to 5,016 vehicles, the company said this week. Endit