Super duty production shut down:
fordauthority.com
GM production shut down:
www.vox.com
This year, some of GM’s newest cars won’t have a critical feature — an advanced fuel management system that saves gas — because the company couldn’t get enough chips, the transistor-filled semiconductors that keep so many of the devices we use today running. The company announced last week that customers who buy the new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups between now and the end of the summer will have a lower fuel economy, showing that even a year after the pandemic started wreaking havoc on global supply chains, a chip shortage is still disrupting entire industries.
GM isn’t the only automaker facing setbacks and even layoffs because of the shortage. Last week, Ford said the chip shortage, along with weather conditions, left the company canceling shifts and building some vehicles without all their parts. Honda, Volkswagen, and Toyota have similarly warned of chip supply issues or reduced production in recent months.
Meanwhile, the United States has struggled to bring in enough of everything — from much-needed N95 respirators and other personal protective equipment to bicycles to game consoles and laptops — since Covid-19 first arrived. The chip shortage has continued to hurt device makers, too. Samsung recently warned that it might skip the introduction of its popular Galaxy Note phone this year. It doesn’t help that other shortages, including a shortage of shipping containers, are also causing ripple effects in the supply chain.
But the chip shortage, specifically, points to particular weaknesses in the US high-tech manufacturing industry. In response to growing concerns about the chip shortage and its consequences, President Joe Biden signed an executive order in February starting a 100-day review of supply chains for critical products, with a particular focus on advanced technology components, also fulfilling one of his campaign promises.
Biden’s review won’t just look at the US supply of semiconductors. Over the next two months, the administration will also look at America’s manufacturing abilities for pharmaceuticals, high-capacity batteries, and rare-earth elements that are found in everything from lasers to electric vehicles. There’s also a broader, year-long review of sectors ranging from food and energy to transportation. The ultimate goal, the president said in February, is “making sure the United States can meet every challenge we face in the new era.”
The review could be essential to helping the US economy recover and could better prepare the country for a future crisis. Even as millions of people get vaccinated against Covid-19 and the economy picks back up, supply chain disruptions linked to the chip shortage are proving particularly persistent. The impact of the chip shortage on US autoworkers alone prompted governors from eight states to urge Biden to take action in late February, and Sens. Marco Rubio and Chris Coons have asked Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost semiconductor supply.
“More than a warning, [the pandemic] was a data point for us that this can happen — and if it happens, look what it can do,” explains Seckin Ozkul, the founder and director of the Supply Chain Innovation Lab at the University of South Florida. “[When] a big disruption happens, how can you make sure that your supply chain is going to recover and not have major impacts as soon as possible?” Monday alone demonstrated how fragile the chip situation is. A fire at one automotive chipmaker’s factory in Japan sent stocks in Toyota, Nissan, and Honda down more than 3 percent.
But boosting US supplies of chips, or any other high-tech product, can’t happen overnight. Building new manufacturing facilities can be tricky, time-intensive, and expensive, and some previous government efforts to boost high-tech jobs in the US have failed. At the same time, recent decades have seen more and more of this manufacturing taking place outside the US, in part because it can be cheaper, easier, and more efficient to make these high-tech products abroad.
2021 Ford Super Duty Production Suspended Over Chip Shortage
2021 Ford Super Duty production has been suspended at the Ohio Assembly Plant while shifts are cut at the Kentucky Truck Plant over a parts shortage.
fordauthority.com
GM production shut down:
GM's Mary Barra: Semiconductor chip shortage won't disrupt truck production
GM could take up to a $2 billion hit to pretax profits this year due to a chip shortfall, but will protect production of profitable pickups and SUVs.
www.freep.com
Why a global chip shortage is screwing up America’s pickup trucks
Disruptions in the global high-tech supply chain spell bad news for Chevy Silverados and Samsung phones alike.
www.vox.com
This year, some of GM’s newest cars won’t have a critical feature — an advanced fuel management system that saves gas — because the company couldn’t get enough chips, the transistor-filled semiconductors that keep so many of the devices we use today running. The company announced last week that customers who buy the new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups between now and the end of the summer will have a lower fuel economy, showing that even a year after the pandemic started wreaking havoc on global supply chains, a chip shortage is still disrupting entire industries.
GM isn’t the only automaker facing setbacks and even layoffs because of the shortage. Last week, Ford said the chip shortage, along with weather conditions, left the company canceling shifts and building some vehicles without all their parts. Honda, Volkswagen, and Toyota have similarly warned of chip supply issues or reduced production in recent months.
Meanwhile, the United States has struggled to bring in enough of everything — from much-needed N95 respirators and other personal protective equipment to bicycles to game consoles and laptops — since Covid-19 first arrived. The chip shortage has continued to hurt device makers, too. Samsung recently warned that it might skip the introduction of its popular Galaxy Note phone this year. It doesn’t help that other shortages, including a shortage of shipping containers, are also causing ripple effects in the supply chain.
But the chip shortage, specifically, points to particular weaknesses in the US high-tech manufacturing industry. In response to growing concerns about the chip shortage and its consequences, President Joe Biden signed an executive order in February starting a 100-day review of supply chains for critical products, with a particular focus on advanced technology components, also fulfilling one of his campaign promises.
Biden’s review won’t just look at the US supply of semiconductors. Over the next two months, the administration will also look at America’s manufacturing abilities for pharmaceuticals, high-capacity batteries, and rare-earth elements that are found in everything from lasers to electric vehicles. There’s also a broader, year-long review of sectors ranging from food and energy to transportation. The ultimate goal, the president said in February, is “making sure the United States can meet every challenge we face in the new era.”
The review could be essential to helping the US economy recover and could better prepare the country for a future crisis. Even as millions of people get vaccinated against Covid-19 and the economy picks back up, supply chain disruptions linked to the chip shortage are proving particularly persistent. The impact of the chip shortage on US autoworkers alone prompted governors from eight states to urge Biden to take action in late February, and Sens. Marco Rubio and Chris Coons have asked Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost semiconductor supply.
“More than a warning, [the pandemic] was a data point for us that this can happen — and if it happens, look what it can do,” explains Seckin Ozkul, the founder and director of the Supply Chain Innovation Lab at the University of South Florida. “[When] a big disruption happens, how can you make sure that your supply chain is going to recover and not have major impacts as soon as possible?” Monday alone demonstrated how fragile the chip situation is. A fire at one automotive chipmaker’s factory in Japan sent stocks in Toyota, Nissan, and Honda down more than 3 percent.
But boosting US supplies of chips, or any other high-tech product, can’t happen overnight. Building new manufacturing facilities can be tricky, time-intensive, and expensive, and some previous government efforts to boost high-tech jobs in the US have failed. At the same time, recent decades have seen more and more of this manufacturing taking place outside the US, in part because it can be cheaper, easier, and more efficient to make these high-tech products abroad.
