Chrysler Says It Will Idle Several Assembly Plants

[hatrack]

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - "DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group plans to idle several assembly plants, including the South plant in Fenton, late this month or early next year to cut inventories and allow plants to prepare for new models.

EDIT

Among the plants shutting down for a week or more at the end of the year or early next year will be a Dodge truck plant in Warren, Mich., which is retooling to launch a new midsize Mitsubishi truck.

The company's South assembly plant in Fenton will also close for retooling, as will a Detroit plant that builds the Dodge Viper sports car.

EDIT

Chrysler's Dodge Durango SUV plant in Newark, Del., and a PT Cruiser plant in Toluca, Mexico, will probably also close for a short time early next year to offset rising inventories, LaSorda said."

EDIT

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/16C1F1CB872E8A8C86256F620049F1EB?OpenDocument&Headline=Chrysler+says+it+will+idle+several+assembly+plants

[maddezmom]

1. new plant opening in China

Also Monday, the German leader attended the laying of a cornerstone for a new Beijing factory built by DaimlerChrysler and a Chinese joint-venture partner.


China says Germany has been its biggest European trading partner for three decades. In the first 10 months of this year, their trade totaled $43.6 billion, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing figures from the Ministry of Commerce.


Schroeder was to meet President Hu Jintao on Tuesday before visiting the northeastern city of Changchun. He travels Wednesday to Japan, where he and Japanese leaders are expected to discuss the campaign by both of their governments to obtain seats on the United Nations (news - web sites) Security Council.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=10&u=/ap/20041206/ap_on_re_as/china_germany

[sendero]

3. Once again..

.... American companies are going to set up factories AND TEACH OUR COMPETITORS HOW TO BUILD OUR PRODUCT.

These assholes all fall all over each other to sell out the American worker for a few dollars now.

[llmart]

5. DaimlerChrysler was a huge donor to BushCo......

and the American worker gets hurt in the long run. But the guys at the top of the company and BushCo get richer and richer.

Meanwhile, my husband who works for them hasn't gotten a raise in 4 years (yeah, coincides with when the idiot-in-chief stole office the first time).

[mhr]

2. Guess All Those Hard Working Americans That Bush Met On The

Campaign trail won't be so hard working anymore.

[elsur]

4. This happens nearly every year that I can remember

Ata minumum, the auto plants shut down to make needed changes between model years and most years they shut down or reduce the number of shifts to slow inventory.

GM has been doing this in Mid-Michigan since I can remember.

[74dodgedart]

6. Boy, those tax cuts are really working out.

[DrZeeLit]

7. Amused at terminology... idle in an auto plant... hmmmm.

Okay, so I'm easily amused.
But...the job market is IMPROVING...right?
I mean, that's what THEY keep telling us?

Wait 'til China really gets rolling in the automative industry.
Aint seen nothing yet...could be the mantra.

Idle? More like FULL STOP?

[jmowreader]

8. This is Business as Usual in the auto industry

Every year it's the same thing. There's a new model coming out, so they stop making cars at the plant that will build the new model, take the parts that won't carry forward to the new model out, restock the lines with new-model parts, and go back to making cars. (The only car ever made that didn't have this problem was the VW Bug; Volkswagen designed that car for maximum component interchangeability, so many Bugs after a model-year change were made with some old parts and some new parts. They wouldn't do it now because of JIT supply lines and Kanbans, but in the old days when communication between the parts factory and final assembly was not well developed, you saw some weird shit going on.)

The Delaware Durango plant and the Mexican PT Cruiser plant are a different story--demand lags supply, so stop making them for a bit and let the dealers sell down. Once again, not unusual.