trucks has to be formed into parts within a certain period of time fords johnson said during the shutdown some ford workers went into the automakers dearborn michigan pickup plant to build aluminum parts and apply protective coatings so the metal did not have to be scrapped some aluminum doors were then trucked out to the homes of quality inspectors who tore them apart in their garages to check that adhesives had not failed johnson said ford has had finished vehicles sitting in lots and at rail heads for two months which means the batteries could be dead we can now ping the vehicle and get a reading back has the battery drained johnson said along assembly lines uaw skilled trades workers at fiat chryslers jeep plant in toledo ohio worked during the shutdown to install shields to separate workers who would otherwise get too close at one point on the line one worker is supposed to install a windshield washer fluid bottle while another installs fuses now those workers are separated by an orange plastic sheet that descends from a hanger installed over the vehicle said uaw local 12 president bruce baumhower whose local represents about 6000 hourly workers our uaw skilled trades guys have worked through this entire shutdown developing those kinds of systems those kinds of brackets and tooling he said the automakers are learning daily from their operations in china which are weeks ahead of the united states and europe in terms of reopening as the weather has gotten warmer chinese workers are getting hot under their masks and want more breaks farley said weve found lots of hacks he said people are putting lavender oil in the masksread alsonew normal at auto plants maximum productivity adhering to health and safety protocolmexico auto plants to reopen as country weighs virus risks reuters published on may 14 2020 at 1146 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app detroit auto plants united automobile workers general motors co coronavirus crisis fiat chrysler automobiles nv homenewsall eyes on detroit as automakers ready slow careful reopening of plants