Ford Motor Co. said it will restart production of its popular and profitable F-150 pickup, ending the assembly line shutdown at two of its manufacturing plants.

The Big Three U.S. automaker said that truck production would begin again at its Dearborn plant May 18, followed by the Kansas City plant May 21. F-Series Super Duty truck production will also resume at Ford's Kentucky plant May 21.

"While the situation remains extremely dynamic, our teams are focused on returning our plants to full production as fast as possible," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations, said. "The ramp-up time to full production is improving every day."

The automaker had suspended production of the F-Series trucks due to the scarcity of critical parts following an explosion and fire at a supplier's facility May 2.