[Allpar News System]

A recent Detroit News article pointed to quality problems at Warren Truck, concerning 2013 Rams being built, and claimed in the headline, but not in the text, that these issues were the result of a labor dispute. The quality problems are reducing output but should not affect customers, as vehicles are being held at the plant for repairs rather than sent to dealerships. Long and rotating shifts have often been related to quality and safety issues, due to fatigue. There is no evidence, though, that people are the cause for these problems; new vehicles usually have teething problems as production starts, which is one reason why manufacturers tend to slowly ramp up rather than jumping in at full speed. Detroit News cited an hour, yesterday, when 16 of 58 pickups built passed final inspection. The cause of the defects was not mentioned, and any of a number of automated..

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[1969 300]

Of course they are overblown. The Detroit News as much of the media loves to create controversies where they do not exist.

 

[68RT]

And they just recently started production of the 8-speed Hemi editions. That will add some issues that are real to new production.

 

[Erik Latranyi]

I will accept Mr. Source's word that there is more to the story.

Chrysler is not throwing the workers under the bus......yet.

 

[LXbuilder]

I will accept Mr. Source's word that there is more to the story.

Chrysler is not throwing the workers under the bus......yet.

I've seen six new vehicle launches in my life as an auto worker, and for the last four I have been in a position to understand what is causing "lost" units (vehicles that are not shippable at the end of the the line).
While those numbers (if true and accurate) are a little concerning, it is very possible that "human error" in the assembly plant is the least responsible for these numbers, one troublesome part could be responsible for much of the lost volume. There are many, many "bugs" to be worked out at any launch.
Unless someone on here has very specific proof that some workers are trying to jeopardize the launch, it is very irresponsible to toss a whole work force under the bus. As a union auto worker that has always tried to do his best for the customer for over 31 years I was even a little offended by some of the posts in the locked thread. Not trying to drag this out and I won't comment again, but I couldn't let this slide without adding my two cents. (mods feel free to delete this if I've started something I shouldn't have, no offense taken)

 

[guyverfanboy]

Reading this news make me think that this is very much over blown.

 

[Stratuscaster]

The initial production of ANYTHING is subject to hiccups, flaws, and errors. You can train and prep all you want, but when it all starts, things can and will happen. Understand that you are not only testing the production itself, but the systems and procedures in place to detect and fix the issues that do crop up.

Until we have more details, I'm of the thought that this startup of production, combined with the new work shift arrangement that some are protesting, simply provided a convenient "excuse" or "assumption" that DetNews opted to run with.

In any workplace, there are those that do their jobs and do them well, and there are a few "bad eggs" - and when those "bad eggs" gets some media attention, it gets unfairly applied to the entire workforce.

 

[jazz77]

I remember few years ago 3 workers at a Fiat plant in Italy stopped the line on purpose. They were immediately fired, but they sued Fiat and won. In the end Fiat had to hire them back but refused to have them working.

Now this is a real issue not something like what happened at Warren which we can only speculate about. This is the situation in Europe unfortunately, I don't know where Mr.Source's from but if he's European like me I kind of understand him being particularly worried about these events.

 

[Erik Latranyi]

I remember few years ago 3 workers at a Fiat plant in Italy stopped the line on purpose. They were immediately fired, but they sued Fiat and won. In the end Fiat had to hire them back but refused to have them working.

Now this is a real issue not something like what happened at Warren which we can only speculate about. This is the situation in Europe unfortunately, I don't know where Mr.Source's from but if he's European like me I kind of understand him being particularly worried about these events.

Mr. Source is from Mexico and is very involved in Chrysler/Fiat's quality program.

 

[JRS200x]

The truth will come out, until then its all just wild speculation. Though Mr. Source does have more of an insiders position on this than most I would think...

 

[Dave Z]

Mr. Source is in Mexico. We have heard from a couple of people much closer to Warren who believe this is not a human error issue, intentional or otherwise.

The only evidence of wrongdoing is an article which quotes one of 20 protesting workers who said that bad morale leads to bad quality -- which can be taken as a threat if you really, really want to do that, but is far, far more likely just an observation based on reality.

 

[68RT]

Twenty worker out of how many decided to protest? Many will be unhappy about the shift changes but will accept them as a needed part of keeping their jobs. If and when it is deemed to be a few workers doing intentional faulty work, they need to be dealt with individually and that should be the end of it. If it is new product issues, then they should be ironed out fairly quickly and good product shipped out to customers. The best thing I can think about this is that they ARE looking at quality AND not shipping faulty product. THAT IS THE BEST NEWS OUT OF THIS THAT I CAN SEE.

 

[SheltonBreeden]

In regards to a Chrysler insider having info, it doesn't mean that person has correct info. If the quality guys in the company were coming down on me hardcore and I was accountable to them, it would be a lot easier to blame the workers than to weed out the real problems internally, especially if they were very complex and had no clear solutions.
When manager A is yelling at manager B about the plant screwing up, that pressure is not always reasonable and the buck gets passed very easily to placate those doing the yelling.

 

[Mr.Source]

Mr. Source is in Mexico. We have heard from a couple of people much closer to Warren who believe this is not a human error issue, intentional or otherwise.

The only evidence of wrongdoing is an article which quotes one of 20 protesting workers who said that bad morale leads to bad quality -- which can be taken as a threat if you really, really want to do that, but is far, far more likely just an observation based on reality.

No matter where you work inside news or info. are almost inmediately, and as you know this was not just speculation, and because of that Chrysler is not willing to open the book, they rather close it and will try to continue, Chrysler cant afford such type of news in the media
This is the response Chrysler got for their Farmers Commercial.

 

[dfarc]

Have to jump in because ofcourse its all the workers fault, there the ones who build the cars!

 

[Stratuscaster]

Have to jump in because ofcourse its all the workers fault, there the ones who build the cars!

Or is it the fault of those that trained the workers? Or those that programmed the robots that do the non-human parts of assembly?

It's just easier to blame the workers.

 

[UN4GTBL]

I hope it's just "teething" issues!

Have to jump in because ofcourse its all the workers fault, there the ones who build the cars!

Or is it the fault of those that trained the workers? Or those that programmed the robots that do the non-human parts of assembly?

It's just easier to blame the workers.

Very good points.


I always said that my Caliber was well built. Just the part quality was crap. You can't blame the workers on the assembly line for that. Nor can you blame the engineers who had to stick to a budget, etc, etc.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

No matter where you work inside news or info. are almost inmediately, and as you know this was not just speculation, and because of that Chrysler is not willing to open the book, they rather close it and will try to continue, Chrysler cant afford such type of news in the media
This is the response Chrysler got for their Farmers Commercial.

Where I work, disclosing any such information is a violation of Company Confidential rules, and will, and has, resulted in the immediate firing of the person who disclosed it.

 

[Mr.Source]

Where I work, disclosing any such information is a violation of Company Confidential rules, and will, and has, resulted in the immediate firing of the person who disclosed it.

C'mon, this far from being confidential, everybody knows about it, in my company not only walls have ears, desks, chairs, elevators, but what can we do about it????

 

[Bob Lincoln]

I said Company Confidential, not confidential to a handful of people or a dept. It doesn't get outside the walls by itself. If I mentioned a quality problem that we had, outside of our walls, I'd expect to be disciplined. Every employee knows that.