FORD'S SILVER LINING SHUTDOWN

Ford Motor Company has idled its plants that make the iconic F-150 pickup truck, due to a fire at a factory belonging to one of its major suppliers.

It's been the most successful pickup in the USA for 30 years, but now 7600 production workers are twiddling their thumbs, whilst Ford comes up with some ideas on rebuilding the supply chain.

So much for the 'Just In Time' manufacturing philosophy. However, there could be a silver lining.

Ford has just 89-day's supply of F-150s in the stock system (at the plants and the dealers), and with fuel prices expected to ratchet up radically over the next few months, this could be an ideal opportunity to not only balance stocks, but also re-adjust production rates down, in case the American-Israeli-Iranian tough talk turns into a major oil shortage, or even war!

Cynics often remark "There's nothing like a war" to revive global economies, but another major conflict in a flashpoint like the Middle East is very serious - totally overshadowing Ford's problems, and many others.