Paint shop operations resumed at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Warren Truck Assembly Plant early Monday afternoon after 17 employees stopped working over concerns about the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Paint shop operations at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant have resumed,” company spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in an email. “Production in the plant was not affected.”
There were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the plant that produces the previous-generation Ram pickups, the company said. But Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has directed gyms, theaters, dine-in restaurants and schools to close to curb exposure, and many employers, including Detroit’s three automakers, are letting employees work from home if they can.
The United Auto Workers did not immediately have comment. UAW Local 140 represents workers at the plant; a representative there said no one was available to comment on the work stoppage.
The walkout was the second the automaker has had over coronavirus fears. On Thursday, employees at Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario stopped production there after a colleague went into self-quarantine, though no one at the plant had tested positive for COVID-19. Leaders with the Canadian labor union Unifor urged workers to stand down.
Also on Monday, Fiat Chrysler closed a majority of its European plants for two weeks amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The work stoppages are a result of demand declines, the company said, as European governments in Italy, Spain and elsewhere shut down businesses except grocery stores and pharmacies to prevent COVID-19’s spread. Experts predict a double-digit sales decline in the market, though Fiat Chrysler says it will make up lost production.
The suspension “continues the implementation of a comprehensive set of actions in response to the COVID-19 emergency and enables the Group to effectively respond to the interruption in market demand by ensuring the optimization of supply,” the Italian American automaker said in a statement.
Western Europe could see sales decline by 11% year-over-year from 14.316 million vehicles in 2019 because of the virus, according to an “optimistic” analysis by the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Even with the previously expected drop in sales for 2020, the coronavirus increases the decline by a million vehicles.
Experts have warned that declining demand could be the largest threat to the automakers as they faced concerns over ensuring a consistent supply of parts and keeping their employees safe. In China, where the COVID-19 outbreak began, sales dropped 80% year-over-year in February.
The FCA shutdowns at six Italian, one Serbian and one Polish plants will be in effect until March 27. The automaker is working to ensure production can begin promptly once workers return and is using the downtime to revise production and quality control protocols. The company expects “to be ready to enable our manufacturing operations to deliver previously planned total levels of production despite the suspension when market demand returns,” its statement said.
Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, has shut down for a week its Valencia Engine Plant in Spain after three employees there tested positive for COVID-19.
“We’ll close it for a week,” Ford spokesman T.R. Reid said. “We’ll assess and see what’s safe and appropriate from there.”
Ford CEO Jim Hackett on Friday in a letter to employees said in any instance of a diagnosis, the automaker will shut down the facility for a day for deep cleaning and sanitization.
bnoble@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @BreanaCNoble
Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/chrysler/2020/03/16/auto-manufacturing-coronavirus-demand-europe-united-states/5057467002/