After Ford, The American Aluminum Shortage Hits Stellantis

The fire that shut down the Novelis aluminum plant in Oswego, New York, continues to disrupt automakers across the industry. What started as a material supply shortage for Ford—the plant's largest client—has now spread to Stellantis, which paused production of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer at its Warren, Michigan, assembly plant.

According to Automotive News, the STLA shutdown was triggered by a lack of available aluminum body panels following the September fire that destroyed the metal plant’s hot mill—the part of the plant responsible for rolling aluminum sheets used in vehicle manufacturing.

While the Wagoneer family doesn’t use a fully aluminum body like Ford's large SUVs and pickup trucks, the Jeep's major panels including the hood and doors rely on the lightweight metal sourced from Novelis.

Like Ford, Stellantis is choosing to prioritize production of its full-size pickup, the Ram 1500, built in nearby Sterling Heights. We talked about it last week, but it shows the danger of single sourcing in a just-in-time manufacturing environemt. Automakers producing vehicles in Amerca get roughly 40 percent of their aluminum sheet from Novelis.

Ford is expecting production interruptions to continue through at least late October, with full recovery ultimately dependent on how quickly Novelis can redirect output from its facilities in Europe, Brazil, and South Korea. The Oswego plant probably won't return to normal operations until sometime next year, and even then, it's output could be limited.

[Images: Stellantis]

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