In anticipation of its upcoming 2007
models arriving, Nissan has decided to swallow a hard pill and shut down production at its three U.S. plants for six
days by the end of July. Scuttling its plants in Canton, MS and Smyrna and Decherd, TN will trim 18,000 vehicles from
its previously planned production schedule. The first shut down day occurred on April 17, the second will be May 26th and lengthen the plant’s Memorial Day weekend, while the final four will give workers a very large Fourth of July weekend. All six days will be treated as vacation days for employees, which we assume means they’ll still be on the clock.
Additional down days could be added if sales slow even further ahead of the ’07 arrivals, which include the Versa Hatchback and Sedan, Sentra, Quest, Altima and Altima Hybrid, and Infinit G35 Sedan.
[Source: Nissan]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
steve s @ Apr 24th 2006 10:00AM
Anyone heard whem th enew G35 sedan will be out? August, November?
doug @ Apr 24th 2006 10:02AM
Nissan's taking this American manufacturing a little to far!! Pay people to stay home? Can the Jobs Bank be far behind?
klaatu @ Apr 24th 2006 10:21AM
Seems to me that Nissan's quality issues are biting them in the backside.
Plus, their mix of US built vehicles is too large for $3 and $4 per gallon gasoline.
Wow, they're in the same stinking, sinking Titanic as GM and Ford, but at least have a lifeboat (small cars built overseas which they are starting to import).
Kirsch @ Apr 24th 2006 10:21AM
This is how you avoid red tag sale, you pay what we pay devaluation of your product a few months before the new models come out. If more companies were free to run their businesses this way we wouldn't have 25% oversupply every year.
Kudos to Nissan - when their new products launch later this year they'll be in great shape and nobody will even remember this.
Gale @ Apr 24th 2006 10:46AM
klaatu - Nissan's FY05 numbers are predicted to be among the most profitable of all automakers... again. The company has a new Altima, the new Versa, new Sentra and updated Maxima, Quest and G35 in addition to an HEV.
This is simply a company that isn't selling its customers short by producing too many vehicles for the market and killing resale value. That kind of business accumen will serve them well in the future.
You're such a moron you're hardly worth laughing at. Promise me you'll come back this time next year so we can all whip your butt for being so shallow.
Micheal @ Apr 24th 2006 11:18AM
klaatu - I think you're balls on with this one. Nissan's vehicles suck down gas stronger then a new hoover. With gas right around $3/gal it was only a matter of time before their product portfolio caught up with them.
Quality problems are biting them all over. If Nissan's JD Powers IQS scores don't improve when they get published next month, there will be big troubles on their horizens.
Tmoney @ Apr 24th 2006 11:23AM
Smart management of the plants by Nissan. Could this be the principle of supply and demand...any comment klaatu? To point - a manufacturing 'scuttle' would not happen from quality issues. Especially when it is planned out for different time periods. Klaatu seems to not understand the difference between recalls on vehicles already manufactured and a slow down in production in reaction to the market.
Paying employees during these minor adjustments is very small in relation to the overhead created by surplus inventories and production costs. Otherwise it gets handed down the line all the way to the dealer, when they have to carry the surplus on the lot.
GM and Ford simply continue to push it out until it is too late and the dealers are floor planning 145 day supply rates. The production pipeline clogs up and over time forces you to shutter the plants and layoff the workers.
Can't really argue with what Ghosn and his team have done and continue to do with Nissan. Stay in the black and don't look back!
araemo @ Apr 24th 2006 12:36PM
I'm not sure what vehicles you guys have been driving, but I'm getting better-than-expected mileage on my Nissan. If you're complaining that the 350Z and Altima SE-R get low mileage.. I think you're driving the wrong car.
I am fairly annoyed with the quality problems though.. Paint that doesn't stick to plastic bumper/trim parts well, paint that chips very easily even on the metal parts, a transmission that is... odd. They say theres nothing wrong with it, but I think the second gear synchronizers, well.. aren't working. There have been a couple well known issues with the engine, one had a recall and a part redesign, that may have fixed it.. the other had a recall for cars up to a few months before mine was built, but I don't believe a part was changed, and noone knows if nissan actually changed their manufacturing process to fix the issue. But overall reliability isn't as bad as some cars my family has owned, and it is a great car for the price.
As for idling the plants - makes sense. Paying the workers? Well, sure that's a cost, but you probably can't just shut the plant down without pay without losing some. And if they're on a contract, they may NOT be able to shut it down without pay at all, according to the contract. They'll still save 50% by not operating the plants on those days (Supplies, raw material, electricity, taxes/fines?(IE, for EPA regulations or some such?) ). Makes sense, especially since they are refreshing nearly their entire car lineup in one model year, they want to halt production of the products fewer and fewer people will really want, so they can empty the ENTIRE supply chain of old cars right after the new ones are on lots. I'm really interested to see what the next Sentra SE-R will look like and what the specs will be, but with how poorly the old model sells, I bet nissan isn't going to release anything on it until the old ones are pretty much sold out(So dealers can actually sell the old stuff at a respectable margin, instead of people comparing it to the new model).... so I don't expect to see the SE-R before MY2008.
klaatu @ Apr 24th 2006 2:24PM
Wow, I'm glad I gave everyone something to yell about.
I can always now mention the fact that Mr. Ghosn, now in charge of both Nissan and Renault (what a combo!) is anti-hybrid and that he's going to end up in the history books as the CEO who was thought to be the guy who could do anything - and then ended up backing the wrong horse by NOT backing hybrids.
Mr. Ghosn, if you don't think hybrids are worthwhile then yank the rug from under Altima hybrid production before it gets started and make sure to have the engineers shove a nice big V8 under the hood instead (except, of course, that a V8 won't fit under the hood of an Altima... I'm being facetious).
WDP @ Apr 24th 2006 4:18PM
My local dealer still has a few unsold 2005 Pathfinders. I plan on buying a Frontier Crew SE as soon as I sell my Silverado.
Professor @ Apr 24th 2006 4:36PM
$1000 to a donut Nissans IQS scores are inside top 10, at least 10% better than industry average, market share above 7.5% and sales for FY06 will be another time record.
You Nissan haters have ABSOLUTELY no idea what you're talking about. You're just pathetic haters with nothing to do. See you back here so you can eat crow in 07. Maybe you'll learn something about the industry before then. LOL
Tom @ Apr 24th 2006 6:45PM
Oh my god Nissan treats these lowly, pathetic blue collar workers like white collar workers?? This cannot be, blue collar workers need to sweep the floors and clean the bathrooms while the white collars take their days off!
whofan @ Apr 24th 2006 6:53PM
"Mr. Ghosn, if you don't think hybrids are worthwhile then yank the rug from under Altima hybrid production before it gets started and make sure to have the engineers shove a nice big V8 under the hood instead (except, of course, that a V8 won't fit under the hood of an Altima... I'm being facetious)".
Thanks to GM`s pushrod V8, they can stuff it under the Impalas` hood.
Brian @ Apr 25th 2006 7:44AM
this is a really good solution. remember, Dell got so big, and apple turned itself around not just by offering good product at a good value, but by controlling inventories. I think they were both at one time having only a days worth of inventory on hand and not much more in the channel. Remember, most inventory is 'bought' with credit: more inventory means more interest paid. this ultimately helps them cut costs.
By limiting production, Nissan gets the benefit of ramping down a lot of products' product cycles, but also assuaging its' workers. wouldn't you love to have the day off after tax day, a longer memorial day and a long fourth of july holiday?
13hockey @ May 18th 2006 12:44PM
Nissan engine plant causing 3 days of shutdown this week, think Ghosn is smoking now?