MANILA, April 13, 2011 (AFP) - The Philippine subsidiary of Ford Motors said Wednesday it would go through a month-long shutdown due to an expected shortage of parts caused by the earthquake disaster in Japan.
The shutdown began on Monday and will last until May 9, Ford Motors Philippines said, although it added the interruption would not have a serious impact on the company's corporate results.
"Starting this week, we are pulling ahead 18 previously scheduled down days at our manufacturing facility in the Philippines as a precautionary move to ensure we have parts availability going forward," the company statement said.
"Our inventories are adequate to support consumer demand at this point."
The 18 "down days" cover official working days over the four-week period, during which there are Easter holidays.
Ford, which employs about 700 people in the Philippines, manufactures automobiles and sports utility vehicles for the local and regional market.
The devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami forced Japan's leading automakers to close factories at home.
