Supplier Issues Shut Windsor Until February, GM Adds Overtime At Arlington
Automotive News [sub] quotes CAW President Ken Lawenza as saying “supplier challenges” have shut down production of the Chrysler Group’s minivan plant in Windsor, Ontario. Chrysler confirmed that the plant would be closed until February 1, but refused to elaborate on the circumstances. According to Lawenza, “the reason is because if a supplier never lived up to their contract, then it could be legal ramifications. We let those guys hash it out legally.” The President of CAW Local 444 Rick LaPorte adds “it’s a piece for the key fob, so my understanding is that it’s a raw material issue. The good news is that it’s not an inventory adjustment problem or a lack of sales; it’s a good problem to have.” You know, relatively speaking.
In other production news, GM is adding overtime to production of Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade at its Arlington plant, as it battles low inventory levels (34 days supply and lower) for the full-sized utes. According to GM, dealers are screaming for more big SUVs, but with Ford bumping full-sized production and SUV sales falling, someone’s going to find themselves with more utes than they can get rid of in a few months.
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Not related to the topic, but there is a Ford video "How A Car Is Built" by Think Media Productions. It's a 30 minute movie about the production of Mustangs. Interesting video to watch. Although Mickey might not agree, touring an auto plant or assembly plant is just amazing. I went through the Lincoln Wixom assembly plant in 2002 and it was an eye opener. I still chuckle at the Rube Goldberg machinery needed to flip the Town Car chassis, since Wixom was designed for unitized vehicle production. Nothing related to the main article, except that maybe GM should reopen their old Janesville plant in Wisconsin. I'm just kidding of course, since that plant was built to assemble the old Sampson Tractor that Durant was sure would beat the heck out of old Henry's Tractors.
I call BS on Chrysler's explanation ... How do I know? Ever hear the one how some dealers were stealing the RKE FOBs from delivered unsold units and giving them to customers that were demanding 3 FOBs for the price of 2 (usually for one of the kids) ... How was it handled? Dealers claimed to Chrysler that the vehicle was delivered w only 1 FOB ... Chrysler passed it along to TRW as a warranty claim for short-shipping ... TRW tried different production solutions to overcome the assumed mistake ... no solution worked ... TRW finally got pissed (probably refused to pay any longer - don't know this for sure, but besides stopping shipping, this is usually the supplier's only other real lever) and Chrysler started investigating and found the source of the problem (the dealers of course) ... no word on if these dealers were among those culled... Summary: For such an issue, and unless there are vehicles stacked up in the pipeline and dealer's lots, no OEM in its right mind stops producton over such an issue ... especially for such an item which can be shipped to the dealer before the retail sale, or the customer afterwards... My guess is there is something else going on in combination with the RKE issue (like too many unsold vehicles), or else this is a smoke screen for some other issue like supplier insolvency or a major production quality problem ... but that is only my guess...) BTW, anybody else having trouble posting comments? I have brand new equipment and am not having trouble with any other application ... My problem is that after writing a comment and hitting the submit button the computer hangs ... and the comment is lost if I hit the back up button (only rarely is the comment posted, most times it is lost) ... I am also finding that the edit feature doesn't load the first time ... it hangs ... so I cancel it and reload it then it seems to work... the edit issue is a minor annoyance, but losing and having to, sometimes 3 times, retype my long-winded comments is a time-consuming and frustrating drag ... (this is why I asked previously if the B&B were finding, entertainment, if not utility in my comments.)
Chrysler wouldn't shut down the assembly line over a key fob. No manufacturer would. They would simply keep up production and put the cars on the lot until the supply chain is reestablished. The problem has to be more serious than that. This blog carried an article about two months ago that Chrysler had major issues with Daimler over its treatment during bankruptcy proceedings and would not deliver parts for the Jeep and engines for one of the car lines. I suspect this might be what's at play here. Probably Obama will shell out a couple of hundred million of our money to satisfy Daimler and keep Chrysler up and running.
I live in Windsor, and i dont believe key fobs one bit. there are unsold vehicle rumors around . Johnson controls is closing up its interior trim plant supplying the minivan plant too. All is not right. Lewenza and his union are a big part of the problem, and i as a Canadian tax payer greatly resent our government using my money to pay their salaries. It will never be returned.