Chrysler's Belvidere Plant Shutdown Explained (But Not Fixed)
For want of a nail, the battle was lost, and for want of a gear the plant was idled. The Chicago Tribune reports this week's cessation of activities at Chrysler's Belvidere assembly plant was due to a broken gear in a stamping press used to make body parts. Belvidere's boffins are taking the dies from the press to another location to try to get the lines moving while they effect repairs. Apparently, no replacement parts for the broken gears are available, and no one at The Crisis Corporation will give an estimate on how long the repairs will take. This is the third time the plant has been idled. Chrysler shut down the plant in January "to adjust inventory." Last week, the Plastech parts embargo idled lines. As several TTAC commentators have pointed out, Chrysler is not exactly hard pressed to get the presses pressing. At the beginning of this month, they had a 45-day supply of Calibers, a 75-day supply of Compass' and an 83-day supply of Patriots.
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It could take quite some time to get replacement gears. The cardboard compactor at the grocery store I work at broke down in December. The part needed wasn't availabe, so it had to be custom made. The estimated time to fix it was about 3 weeks. But, it took about 6 before the compactor was working again. So I'd expect at least a couple weeks before the gear is fixed.
Has Detroit fallen so far that a custom bit of metal can't be manufactured overnight? Sad, if true.
Those numbers imply the Compass is selling better than the Patriot. Both have nasty interiors, but I would rate the Patriot as much more palatable. I wonder what gives?