Sad news today from SIA

[Ron Mummert]

From today's bidness section, Washington Post - SIA Lafayette lays off 200+ workers (5%) due to slow sales of Isuzu Rodeo & Axxiom. But, notes that Suby products are doing well.

Gee - why can't we simply flush away this "desire" for SUVs? How about an SVX/Impulse hybrid? Both Italdesign. Both gotta' appeal to youth & mid-life crisis guys.

Naaahhh! Makes too much sense.

Ron.

Ron:
Ron,
Can't say I'm surprised. Prior to the SIA tour, I'd been in
several auto plants both in US & o/seas (used to
be in OEM parts supply business), and in
comparison, SIA was dead...not only was there
very little production going on, but what looked like
about 1/2 the plant space was unused/empty.
My group tour guide actually told us when we passed
several down assembly operations, that "the workers
were on a lunch break." I almost laughed in his face.
Once, one of my competitors had a QC problem that
shut down a line at a Ford assembly plant for two days;
I found out later that those two days cost Ford over
$1.5 million, which is typical for an unplanned shutdown.
Usually, the only time an auto plant ever shuts down
is for model changeover...and it's done in less than
a day.
So, if SIA actually is closing down lines for lunch breaks,
layoffs are just the beginning.
No wonder there were so many long faces in that meeting
we walked by during the tour. Dan
room we walked by.