In Production Purgatory

[DTOWN]

I can think of at least four factors:

- Production can take as long as two weeks. Receipt and coordination of parts, weekends, Holidays, the schedule itself, etc. Ten days to two weeks is common

- Yes, Ford's systems, the ones that update clients, are not real-time. Updates can lag by a few days

- Something might have been seen while in production, something which needs correcting. Could be minor or significant. Better to be repaired before leaving (factory) than in the field (dealer)

- The west coast is currently backlogged at several ports in CA, influenced by on-going labor disputes. I have not read any specific stories of any vehicle manufacturer delays. This topic is an outlier. Something in the ether which could influence anyone receiving parts, supplies and materials from the Far East

Once you clear production, it's not unusual to spend up to two weeks waiting for a train to leave Flat Rock. Along the journey to the dealer, shippers consolidate their trains and trucks, joining as many vehicles to the same destination as possible. It won't be a linear, constant journey, but one of fits and starts.

What if your courtesy delivery dealer is 15 minutes away from Flat Rock ?

Sponsored

 

[Skye]

What if your courtesy delivery dealer is 15 minutes away from Flat Rock ?

The hope is I'm wrong, right? But I'd not be surprised if the shipper waited to consolidate deliveries instead of doing a one-off, even if that close. Think of it like a hauler. Fifteen minutes? Twenty? Eighteen? A bunch of one-off deliveries can get expensive, versus one full truck to multiple places on a route.

I've not read of a dealer picking a vehicle up. Liabilities and agreements with the shippers. Until the vehicle hits the lot and is signed for by the dealer, it remains the property of Ford.

Many years ago, customers of virtually any make could save on destination and delivery and enhance the buying experience by making a factory pickup themselves.

 

[DTOWN]

The hope is I'm wrong, right? But I'd not be surprised if the shipper waited to consolidate deliveries instead of doing a one-off, even if that close. Think of it like a hauler. Fifteen minutes? Twenty? Eighteen? A bunch of one-off deliveries can get expensive, versus one full truck to multiple places on a route.

I've not read of a dealer picking a vehicle up. Liabilities and agreements with the shippers. Until the vehicle hits the lot and is signed for by the dealer, it remains the property of Ford.

Many years ago, customers of virtually any make could save on destination and delivery and enhance the buying experience by making a factory pickup themselves.

No, you're not that wrong. I don't think either that they'll drop it one by one, or my dealer will pick it up. See, I'm from Texas and my dealership is a Texan one, but since I have a property in Michigan and I spend the summer there, my Texan dealership agreed to do a courtesy delivery to another dealership in Michigan. It usually costs around $300 to $400. My point is that delivering a car from flat rock to Dearborn, MI (20 miles away) will be way quicker than shipping it all the way to Texas. I don't think a train will be necessary in this case. So as soon as my car's status get changed to "shipped", I don't think it will take more than 48 hrs. to reach the local dealership in Michigan.

 

[NS90]

Mine went into production on 6/2. In production - produced 6/8. But I just received that 45 day update from ford saying there’s been a delay. I’m not sure how accurate that is but I was given 6/27 as an eta.

Same. The emails I’ve noticed have always been lagging in comparison to chat and haven’t been an indication of new news. Still taking chats word for it on the ETA since they have more visibility.

 

[Skye]

to take a specialized container ship through the Panama canal and up the Mississippi river

Reading the following this morning:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/24/us-...anal-traffic-a-drought-is-threatening-it.html

 

[Dena]

I don't see why they wouldn't use rail after dropping load off in California. I would bet that with all the high tax state and money grabbing there it might very well cheaper to go the canal and Misssippi route.

The port of LA has a strong union that resist automation and wants a single work shift. Because of that the port is near capacity and just over a year ago had ships stacked up waiting to come into the harbor. The rail system has I think three tracks and they are so loaded that trains park with full loads waiting to get out of the LA area. The criminal element has discovered these idle trains and raid them dumping the contents on the ground while looking for items of value. The story was all over the press but this link will give you an idea of what's going on. Los Angles is just a bad port to use and shippers have a good reason to look elsewhere.

 

[ThreePedalPlow]

Reading the following this morning:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/24/us-...anal-traffic-a-drought-is-threatening-it.html

Sounds like they are already working on a solution for that if you read the end of the article but the cargo ships being built to handle the Mississippi river are designed to travel in shallower waters so water level issues at the Panama canal wouldn't effect the river cargo ships as much if at all compared to a regular cargo ship.

Sponsored