Workers at seven of Chrysler Group LLC's assembly plants will get an extra week or two of holiday vacation as the company installs new equipment for minor midyear changes and moves equipment from a stamping plant in Ohio that is closing.
Chrysler's production for January will be significantly higher than a year ago, when the Auburn Hills automaker halted production at all manufacturing plants for a month as sales plummeted, and it needed to pinch pennies as it waited for the incoming administration of President Barack Obama to respond to requests for government assistance.
This year, two Detroit-area plants -- Jefferson North and Sterling Heights assembly -- are to resume output on Jan. 4. Other sites will take more time off to let skilled trades workers install equipment, said Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan.
Warren Truck, Toledo North, Toledo Supplier Park, Belvidere, Ill., and Toluca, Mexico, aren't to produce vehicles until Jan. 11. Windsor and Brampton, Ontario, are to resume production Jan. 18.
Holiday breaks vary depending on sales. This year, Chrysler workers began their break this week. Workers at the Jefferson North plant in Detroit, who assemble the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Sterling Heights assembly plant, which produces the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger, are to resume production on Jan. 4.
Reduced crews are to be working at each site during the first two weeks of 2010 to perform "non-production" activities, such as routine maintenance, installing new tooling and implementing processes related to Chrysler's World Class Manufacturing system. Some equipment is being moved from Chrysler's Twinsburg, Ohio, stamping plant.
"We have booked a full slate of orders for the first quarter of 2010, so our manufacturing facilities will be quite busy," said Scott Garberding, senior vice president for manufacturing.
While most of the 2010 models were launched in September and October, there are upgrades in some of the vehicles' interiors that will occur early in the 2010 calendar year.
Last week, Chrysler announced it is investing $179 million at its Dundee engine plant where it will begin making 1.4-liter four-cylinder engines for the Fiat 500.
