A shift elimination at the Chrysler Group’s South assembly plant in Fenton was announced today.
The automaker said it had to trim one of the two South plant shifts due to falling demand for minivans built there and at another assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario. About 1,300 employees who work the South plant’s second shift will be affected by the cut. After closing in 1991, the minivan plant reopened in 1995, where 3,200 employees currently assemble Dodge Caravan and Grand Caravan, and Chrysler Town & Country minivans.
Earlier today, the automaker’s parent, DaimlerChrysler, announced the shift elimination as part of a broader restructuring plan to return the Chrysler unit to profitability.
To relief of many, the company didn’t announce the closure of the North Assembly plant, where about 2,330 people build Ram pickups. For weeks, analysts speculated that the North plant was on the chopping block due to slumping Ram sales. Ram’s sales dropped 9 percent from the previous year in 2006 .
However, the North plant was left untouched in the restructuring announcement. Instead, Chrysler will eliminate this year a shift at the Warren, Mich., plant, which also builds Ram pickups.
Chrysler’s restructuring plan calls for reducing the total North American workforce by 13,000 employees, or 16 percent of its work force, over the next three years. The plan also calls for a shift elimination this year at the Dodge Durango assembly plant in Newark, Del., which will later be closed in 2009.
According to Chrysler executives, the South assembly plant cuts were based on diminishing demand for specific products.