Chrysler Idles Belvidere Plant Over Parts Shortage. Again.

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

In case you were thinking Chrysler's supply chain was relatively robust– aside from last week's spat with Plastech that shut four factories and caused slow-downs at four more– The Chicago Tribune reports that Chrysler's now idling its Belvidere assembly plant for at least the first shift Wednesday, due to an "unexpected parts shortage." Chrysler spokesmouth Roger Benvenuti told the Trib that the latest disruption– which halts production of the Jeep Compass and Patriot and the Dodge Caliber– was not Plastech-related. He also revealed the astonishing fact that production will resume when parts became available. Meanwhile, no matter how you slice it, this doesn't look good for Chrysler. Either they screwed-up their logistics or they have another Plastech-type dispute rumbling away somewhere in the background. Watch this space…

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Bipsieboy Bipsieboy on Feb 13, 2008

    IF chrysler siezes the tooling from Plastech and IF they get it running, how long will it take to finally get the parts to the plants. i see nothing but bad in chryslers future. oh well. working in a cdj store and selling a $35000 grand cherokee and making a $75.00 flat commission because the boss gave it away just to get it off our floorplan aint much fun either.

  • Nick Nick on Feb 13, 2008

    olddavid...read The End of the Line. You will enjoy it. I used to work at a consulting company that had a large outsourcing practice that defrauded, er, advised some very large clients. As you stated, the benefits are often overstated. The interface is seldom seamless, and with tight timelines and close manufacturing tolerances, there is little room for error. And as anyone who has worked in a company of any size, geographic dispersion and email/phone calls combined are a recipe fo disaster.

  • Johnson Johnson on Feb 13, 2008
    Robert Farago: He also revealed the astonishing fact that production will resume when parts became available. I wonder how many Chrysler execs were shocked about this astonishing fact.
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