Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Buick, Chevrolet, GM, GMC, Pontiac, UAW/Unions
GM Strike update: Plants close in Canada due to lack of supplies
Our neighbors to the north have official felt the crunch of the strike here at home, with the Oshawa, Ontario plant closing down production today after it ran out of parts to produce the Chevrolet Impala. Unfortunately, 3,000 workers have had to punch out and head home for the day as a result.
It's expected that another plant in Ontario that produces the Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick LaCrosse will have to shut down before the end of the day, while the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra plant is likely to close by the end of the week unless deliveries resume.
[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
raz 1:30PM (9/25/2007)
Let's see Rick Wagoner was the CEO of GM when it needes the most fuel efficient vehicles ..just to survive, and he delivered with even bigger trucks. GM needed something new and exiting......he delivered with Cavalier, i mean Cobalt. GM needed to notmalize ties with unions....he delivered a strike.
WOW, how does he do it all?
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Bill 1:31PM (9/25/2007)
Wow. The "just in time" distribution methodology only lasts 24 hrs after a disruption? I see the logic of not maintaining huge warehouses of stuff just sitting around for months or years on end, but I would have thought the system could have lasted at least, say a week??
My concern isn't for the auto industry specifically, but everything- retail, grocery, manufacturing, etc. Does it really make sense to have all those trucks running back and forth around the clock?
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alex 1:41PM (9/25/2007)
Bill if they didn't use JIT, they'd have just as many trucks running around the clock to replenish their inventory stock piles. What did you think, that they run 1/4 full trucks for their JIT inventory, so that would mean 4x the number of trucks?
PandaBear 1:53PM (9/25/2007)
JIT is efficient because you don't have to pay for large warehouse and tie up your cash for it. Nothing prevent you from a strike in the inefficiency of manufacturing, because you can never guarantee which part of the supply will be on strike next.
The solution is JIT + inventory of "finished" product, not unfinished product.
mk 1:43PM (9/25/2007)
Even if the parts are available in stock at the american sub-assembly plants, The teamsters won't cross the UAW picket lines to pick them up and take them to the canadian plants.
Economic domino effect. and it is probably wider than that.
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NT 1:44PM (9/25/2007)
Cost wise, yes, as the cost of storing all that is greater than the cost of getting things delivered, and since its going to be delivered, you might as well simply get it delivered when you need it .
I personally like how 77000 UAW members have now forced the involuntary strike of 3000 CAW workers. I wonder if they have a in case the UAW strikes fund as well.
I don't blame GM for not agreeing to the terms, with the UAW pulling stuff like this, its no wonder they don't want to build cars in America anymore.
I also like how raz has all the answers, There are more factors that go into running GM than you can possibly imagine. Rick is thinking long term, with this move. As for the cobalt, would no car have been better? No, so shut up about it already.
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Alex 1:47PM (9/25/2007)
HA! Good to see the UAW helping out their CAW "brothers". Asshats.
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Bubba 1:48PM (9/25/2007)
Note to GM workers: If you dislike your pay/employer/benefits so much, why not quit and find a better job?
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Paul 1:53PM (9/25/2007)
GM has the upper hand in this and they know it. They have plenty of inventory and probably only one or two hot selling models that are going to be effected in the short term. This could last for a couple weeks and only work out to GM's benefit.
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PandaBear 2:03PM (9/25/2007)
I know, it must be part of the reason why Chrysler got a huge advantage in their talk with UAW, they have way too many inventory that they are begging for a strike (and want it anyways).
That's why it is important to build all products in all plants (at least with this capability). Not only will it reduce transport cost at normal time, but it also shift risk completely. US on strike? Move to Mexico or China. Mexico on Strike? Move back to US.
tony2x 2:49PM (9/25/2007)
I can see an upside to this strike, it'll help GM clear out their enormous stockpile of 07 models! :)
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Barney 4:35PM (9/25/2007)
It's ironical that the biggest export from Canada is auto parts.
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SPG 5:01PM (9/25/2007)
Well this is bloody fair.
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Golferal 5:19PM (9/25/2007)
Wow. What a shit storm this is gonna be. I'm usually apathetic to strikes but this one is interesting!
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Golferal 5:21PM (9/25/2007)
And oil...
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RWD fan 2:00PM (9/26/2007)
comment section test
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