Employees who make the iconic Jeep Wrangler went back to their jobs last week after a two-month layoff at Chrysler Group LLC's Toledo Jeep Assembly complex, returning to a new company with new ways of production. But as the global meltdown of the automotive industry continues, foreign auto companies are taking a different tack with their employees than did Chrysler, General Motors Corp., and Ford Motor Co. Instead of long periods of layoffs, the permanent workers of foreign automakers
are still collecting paychecks, albeit smaller ones in most cases. "The international automakers have two types of employees: permanent employees and contract or temporary employees," explained David Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research, a respected auto industry think tank in Ann Arbor. "When things get soft, the temporary employees are gone, instantly." Almost all of the 16 nonunionized plants in the United States owned by foreign automakers have reduced their production in recent months, have cut or eliminated their temporary workers, and have reduced their hours.They've offered buyout packages to older workers and slowed production lines in some cases to respond to the biggest drop in auto sales in decades. The moves match cuts that the foreign automakers have made in their other plants around the world, including those in their home countries, analysts and company officials say. U.S.-based automakers are fighting an uphill battle to compete in a shrinking global marketplace against companies from low-cost countries with restricted markets, such as South Korea. Policy experts, such as Mr. Cole, suggest the auto industry crisis crippling two of the three domestic automakers is decades in the making and won't be fixed until lawmakers decide whether the United States should continue to be in the business of building things. "We're the only industrialized economy in the world that, at a policy level, doesn't understand manufacturing," Mr. Cole said. "We think tech is really neat or financial services are really neat, but tech or financial services are only valuable as they relate to something that has value - something that is made." The world's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., this year posted its first annual loss in 70 years.
are still collecting paychecks, albeit smaller ones in most cases. "The international automakers have two types of employees: permanent employees and contract or temporary employees," explained David Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research, a respected auto industry think tank in Ann Arbor. "When things get soft, the temporary employees are gone, instantly." Almost all of the 16 nonunionized plants in the United States owned by foreign automakers have reduced their production in recent months, have cut or eliminated their temporary workers, and have reduced their hours.They've offered buyout packages to older workers and slowed production lines in some cases to respond to the biggest drop in auto sales in decades. The moves match cuts that the foreign automakers have made in their other plants around the world, including those in their home countries, analysts and company officials say. U.S.-based automakers are fighting an uphill battle to compete in a shrinking global marketplace against companies from low-cost countries with restricted markets, such as South Korea. Policy experts, such as Mr. Cole, suggest the auto industry crisis crippling two of the three domestic automakers is decades in the making and won't be fixed until lawmakers decide whether the United States should continue to be in the business of building things. "We're the only industrialized economy in the world that, at a policy level, doesn't understand manufacturing," Mr. Cole said. "We think tech is really neat or financial services are really neat, but tech or financial services are only valuable as they relate to something that has value - something that is made." The world's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., this year posted its first annual loss in 70 years.For further details visit as : http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090706/BUSINESS02/907060306
