Seeking to minimize the ripple effect of Monday's explosion on its other North American operations, the No. 2 automaker also said the other three River Rouge complex plants idled since the blast could return to partial production Friday.
"If we're very fortunate and everything works out all right, maybe Monday" the 1,100-acre complex could be at full speed, site manager Art Janes said.
"It's a very optimistic plan, but attitude means a lot."
Once at full speed, Ford plans to ramp up production at the River Rouge plants to make up lost ground, help refill the parts pipeline and mitigate the blast's already visible effects on some Ford plants elsewhere.
Yesterday, Ford officials said as many as 1,500 workers were back on the job at the roughly 10,000-employee complex's plants, again making fuel tanks, automotive frames and such stamped-out parts as hoods and doors.
Meanwhile, 16 workers injured in the blast remained hospitalized as Ford and private engineers still assessed when the ruined, structurally unfit power station could accommodate investigators in search of the explosion's cause.
"Safety is paramount for us, we want to make sure it's structurally sound," Ford spokesperson Nick Sharkey said.
Ford has refused to speculate about what caused the fiery explosion that killed 58-year-old pipe fitter Donald Harper - a 35-year Ford worker from Redford Township - and left the power station a mangled, rubble-filled hulk Janes said would be razed after the investigation.
Police Chief Ron Diezel said one of the explosion site's boilers "was completely split apart" and has emerged as a suspect.
The complex once was the world's largest auto plant and home of the Model T. The power house produced enough electricity to serve a city the size of Boston, Ford has said.
The power station served six Ford factories in the complex: a Mustang assembly plant and various plants that produce products from engines to glass. Its stamping plant supplies 16 of the automaker's 20 North America assembly plants.
The blast caused slowed production Tuesday at several Ford plants nationwide. Work hours were trimmed at assembly plants in Wayne, Wixom, Lorain, Ohio, and St. Thomas, Ontario.
Overtime shifts were halted Tuesday at plants in Kansas City, Mo., Norfolk, Va., Oakville, Ontario, and St. Paul, Minn.
Ford planned to update the production statuses of its assembly plants later yesterday.
In trying to get the River Rouge complex running again, Ford aggressively hauled in large generators Tuesday and labored to bypass the once-mighty power station in hopes of having full electricity back by this week's end.
To that end, Detroit Edison - once supplying just 20 percent of the complex's power - is being called upon to power it all until a new, $240 million power plant being built for the Rouge complex is finished, perhaps in 1 1/2 to two years.
"The requirements for the entire complex are a little less than 200 megawatts; Detroit Edison is expected to beat that with connections once they're restored," utility spokesperson Lew Layton said.
Meanwhile, two state inspection teams were at the site yesterday, Department of Consumer and Industry Services spokesperson Maura Campbell said. One team consists of four safety experts, the other of two inspectors from the department's boiler division.
Department Director Kathy Wilbur said she expected the investigation to take months.
"This week, more than any other, has reminded us very painfully about issues of worker safety," she said.
As for the victims, the University of Michigan hospital complex still had nine patients in critical condition with burns covering 20 to 60 percent of their bodies yesterday, spokesperson Carol Craig said. Some also have burn injuries to their lungs. Six of those victims were undergoing surgeries to remove charred skin, she said.
Four of the hospitalized in Ann Arbor also survived a scare, requiring "emergency medical procedures" early yesterday when complications from their burns deteriorated their conditions, said Dr. Woodrow Myers, Ford's health-care management director.
Three other men - Gerald Moore, 56, of Garden City, Dennis Arrington, 47, of Detroit, and John Sklarczyk, 47, of Dearborn - were in critical condition yesterday at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, a hospital spokesperson said.
Three other victims were still listed in critical condition yesterday night at Detroit Receiving Hospital's burn center.
02-04-99
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |