As many as 1,800 Ford workers could be forced to temporarily stand aside as the carmaker admitted on Tuesday that parts supply shortages will soon hit its Geelong production lines due to problems encountered by the company's main supplier, CMI.

According to The Herald Sun, CMI was locked out from its Campbellfield factory for failure to make rent payment that runs to $150,000, which Ford officials confirmed would lead to the wipe out of specific car parts beginning Thursday this week.

CMI has been contracted by Ford to manufacture suspension arms for the carmaker's Falcon and Territory car models, the Herald Sun said.

Also, media reports have indicated that CMI had tried to secure a settlement from its landlord though Fair Work Australia (FWA) but the hearing conducted on Saturday appeared to further convince the landlord to keep CMI from accessing its facilities.

In an interview with Nine Network on Tuesday, Ford spokeswoman Sinead Phipps confirmed that its supply chain in the Campbellfield factory will be greatly affected by the CMI glitch, partly due to its 'just in time' delivery policy.

Ms Phipps admitted that an estimated 1,800 workers could be asked to halt production activities temporarily until CMI resumes its supply deliveries or until Ford could find alternative suppliers.

"They would be temporarily stood down and we would work with the union to put forward annual leave and other down days so that they receive at least an element of pay for the time that they were off work," Ms Phipps was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) today.

She clarified, however, not one worker will be losing a job.

"We won't be laying off anybody. What we will have to do if we don't come to a resolution today, which we are hopeful of doing, would be to temporarily stand down our employees which across manufacturing would reach about 1,800," Ms Phipps said.

She added that the CMI supply problem "would have a flow-on effect. I'm just not aware of exactly what number that would reach."

Yet according to Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) assistant secretary Leigh Diehm, Ford was to blame for its 'just in time' delivery policy, which limits its parts inventory in order to save warehouse maintenance costs.

"They don't have much stock ... and I would think they only had two days' stock and that included today," Mr Diehm told the Herald Sun.

Mr Diehm also lambasted the Victorian state authorities their apparent inaction on the matter that precariously heads into a very dire situation, which he added could also impact on the fate of "between 3,000 and 4,000 workers at the Broadmeadows and Geelong plants."

However, Manufacturing Minister Richard Dalla-Riva denied that the Victorian government was not in doing anything to prevent the likely standing down of many Ford assemblers.

Mr Dalla-Riva scored the AMWU leadership for its 'scaremonger tactics' that "regarding the Victorian manufacturing sector."

"The Victorian G=government recognises that there are significant challenges facing the automotive sector and we are working hard with manufacturers and their suppliers to address these issues," Mr Dalla-Riva said in a statement and as reported by The Advertiser today.