DaimlerChrysler idles Windsor, Ont., plant for a month

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Starting today, DaimlerChrysler will idle production at its full-size van and wagon assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., for a month because of high inventories and declining sales.

While salaried and some skilled trades employees at the Pillette Road Truck Assembly Plant will keep working, nearly 2000 workers will be laid off at the end of today until Jan. 4, said Dan Moore, a spokesman for the world’s fifth-largest automaker, in a Reuters report.

Pink slips went out late Tuesday. The plant, which makes Dodge Ram vans and wagons, employs 2193 people.

Originally, the company planned a one-week layoff the week of Dec. 7, would re-open for the weeks of Dec. 14 and 21, and shut down again from Christmas until the end of the year.

At the end of last month, DaimlerChrysler had a 134-day supply of vans and 47-day supply of wagons, the company said. Automakers generally prefer a 60-day supply on hand.

The plant, with an annual production capacity of about 120,000 units, makes four times as many vans as wagons, Moore said.

Sales of the Ram van are down 11% through the first 11 months of 1998 to 47,934 units compared with last year. Sales of the wagon through November are down 7% to 15,967 units.