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…
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I guess the bullies not paying their suppliers are getting their just rewards
Oh no! Doesn’t Chrysler realize that dealers only have a 180-day supply of Compasses and Calibers? How can they possibly afford to idle the plant? What will dealers do in 6 months when supply runs out? Stop offering $4,000 incentives?
Skip the suicide watch — Chrysler needs the relatives to sign a DNR — Do Not Resuscitate.
But but… Aspen sales are up! According to “Under the Pentastar”.
Right lots of field stock.Keep in mind folks the big 3 can now hire at 14$ an hour.The car companys also own the tooling.The big 3 also have lots of unused factory space.
Can anybody think of a better time to pick up your own tooling bring it in house,debug and run it with less logistics cost?
“Can anybody think of a better time to pick up your own tooling bring it in house,debug and run it with less logistics cost?”
The time before it was cheaper/faster to ship said tools to China and produce parts there?
This is truly a blessing if then end result of this slowdown is fewer truly crappy Compass’ make it on today American’s roads!
As an Agnostic, I am loathe to quote from any religious text, but in this case nothing could be more apropos…” you reap what you sow”. Or words to that effect. When the so-called experts advised of the multitude of benefits of divestiture (AC, Delco-Remy, New Process, etc etc) they obviously neglected to even gloss over the possible down-side which we have seen for several years now. I am a B.BA, which is always pointed out to me whenever I get into discussions with the economists. But, it seems to me, that vertical integration was NOT the boogie man the Wall St. types claimed while advising the sell-off of these captive parts suppliers. I would bet money that some variation of the Japanese Keiretsu(sp) will eventually be commonplace in the domestic industry. I mean, why not try it? Everything else has tanked. As an old-school political commenter used to say about American foreign policy-” Tell them to take their money and go to hell with it…….They’ve already been everywhere else” There is an analogy there somewhere- I promise.
Repeating what has happenened to Rover group UK. /Phoenix fiasco. The Chrysler/ Ceberus group is doing the same thing. Trim , downsize and cut R&D. Then start the financial tricks of selling off portions, goverment bailout and corporate accounting manipulation. This will end in tears.
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.
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.
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.
Stamping press failure: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu_stamping_feb14,0,5536278.story