F Ford Motor Company

By Christina Rogers 

Ford Motor Co.'s shipments of its newest heavy pickups known as the F-Series Super Duty were hurt in late summer because of unspecified "parts issues," a union official said, signaling a potential drag on the auto makers' third-quarter earnings.

Rodney Janes, the United Auto Workers union chairman at Ford's Louisville, Ky., truck factory, said while the issues are being ironed out, it would be "impossible to build all the lost units" from this past quarter. The shortfall could mean overtime work for assemblers as the company races to meet demand for the redesigned truck, among the industry's most profitable products.

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Janes said the production efforts now are "fabulous" and are ahead of plan. "There's always a possibility of parts issues," he said. "When launching a new truck, you don't come out of the gate going 1,000 miles per hour. If there is a problem, you stop right there."

Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker declined to comment on the component problem, but said "we continue ramping up production on the all-new Super Duty. We are working closely with our suppliers to meet customer demand for the truck, which has been outstanding."

Company executives earlier this year said Ford was counting on the rollout of the Super Duty truck to lift earnings in the back half of the year, but in July warned higher costs associated with the launch could hurt its prospects of meeting 2016 guidance.

In a note to union members, the UAW's Mr. Janes said parts issues have led to shortened workweeks and canceled weekends of planned overtime at the plant. The UAW and the company haven't disclosed what parts were involved in the production delays.

"The launch has created situations that are way out of the norm for [the Kentucky truck plant]," the official wrote in the union newsletter, noting that because of the downtime many employees will be working "excessive overtime" for up to a year from the launch date.

Ford made waves when it re-engineered its F-Series trucks with fuel-efficient aluminum body panels instead of steel. It introduced a redesigned version of the lighter-duty F-150 in late 2014 and then moved to its heavier Super Duty version last month.

The Super Duty is priced starting at $32,500 and rising to nearly $80,000. The truck has been a strong contributor to Ford's earnings in recent years because tooling costs of the older model were written off long ago.

Auto makers book revenue on wholesale shipments, not sales on dealer lots. Major hiccups in production schedules can have an impact on quarterly profits.

Ford is expected to report results for its third quarter on Oct. 27.

Last year, as Ford was ramping up production of its new F-150, the company also struggled with parts problems that forced it to cancel planned overtime and halt the assembly line during regular shifts. That left dealers short on pickups and ultimately dented profit and market share during 2015.

Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 14, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

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