Italian plant at risk

Fiat warns another Italian plant at risk

Fiat’s chief executive said the carmaker may need to close another plant in Italy if he does not secure further cost-cutting concessions from its workforce. Sergio Marchionne’s warning came amid signs that PSA Peugeot Citroën and Ford Motor are also preparing to break Europe’s longstanding taboo on closing car plants because of persistently low industry-wide sales. General Motors has already announced plans to close a factory in Bochum, Germany after 2016. Mr Marchionne told reporters late on Tuesday that he expected European car sales to remain at their current level – about 14m – for another two to three years. “If that is the demand in Europe, there is at least one extra car plant in Italy,” Bloomberg quoted Fiat’s chief executive saying at a launch of Fiat’s 500L model in Turin. Fiat’s chief executive plans to keep the carmaker’s underused Italian plants busy by building cars for its US unit Chrysler, whose factories are busy because of surging sales this year. “If we manage to utilise the capacity to export to the US, this issue will disappear,” Mr Marchionne said. However, in order to make cars competitively for the US, Mr Marchionne needs to secure more flexibility from unions in areas such as work hours and patterns. He has fought with unions plant-by-plant to secure these concessions, awarding them vehicle projects like the new Panda, made at Fiat’s factory in Pomigliano, near Naples. His threat of a plant closure may be aimed at Fiat’s plant in Cassino, which has not yet voted on such cost-cutting measures. According to consultancy AlixPartners, Italy’s car plants – overwhelmingly Fiat’s – are operating at just 53 per cent of their capacity, the lowest level of any country in Europe. Fiat is one of the only European carmakers to have shut a factory since the beginning of the financial crisis – its Sicilian plant in Termini Imerese, which closed last year. Among other financially squeezed carmakers, Peugeot has convened a meeting with unions on July 12 at which Philippe Varin, chief executive, is expected to seek deeper cost cuts and may announce plans to close a plant. Inside the company, its factory in Aulnay outside Paris has long been discussed as a candidate for closure. Ford Motor last week warned that its overseas losses in the most recent quarter would be triple the $190m it lost a year ago. Bob Shanks, chief financial officer, described Ford’s problems in Europe as a “structural issue”. While Ford, which restructured in Europe a decade ago, has until now reacted to lower demand by cutting work days at its plants, it is now said to be considering closing a plant. The company is declining to comment on “speculation”, but one of its two plants in high-cost Germany are seen as the most vulnerable to closure.

Fiat upozorava još jednu fabriku u Italiji na rizik
Izvršni direktor Fiata rekao je da bi proizvođač automobila možda trebao zatvarati još jednu fabriku u Italiji ako ne obezbedi dodatne koncesije za smanjenje troškova od svoje radne snage. Upozorenje Serdia Marchionnea došlo je usred znakova da se PSA Peugeot Citroën i Ford Motor priprema da raskine evropski dugogodišnji tabu na zatvaranju automobila zbog uporno niske prodaje u industriji. General Motors je već objavio planove za zatvaranje fabrike u Bochumu u Nemačkoj nakon 2016. G. Marchionne je novinarima rekao da je očekivao da će prodaja evropskih automobila ostati na sadašnjem nivou - oko 14m - još dvije do tri godine. "Ako je to zahtjev u Evropi, u Italiji postoji bar jedna dodatna fabrika automobila", izjavio je Bloomberg izvršni direktor kompanije Fiat na izjavi modela Fiat 500L u Torinu. Glavni izvršni direktor Fijata planira da zadrži manje iskorišćene italijanske pogone automobila za proizvodnju automobila za američku jedinicu Chrysler, čije fabrike su zauzete zbog povećanja prodaje ove godine. "Ako uspemo da iskoristimo kapacitete za izvoz u SAD, ovo pitanje će nestati", rekao je Marchionne. Međutim, kako bi automobili učinili konkurentnim za SAD, g. Marchionne treba osigurati više fleksibilnosti od sindikata u područjima kao što su radno vrijeme i obrasci. Borio se sa sindikatima po postrojenjima kako bi obezbedio ove koncesije, dodelivši im projekte za vozila poput nove Pande, napravljene u Fiatovoj fabrici u Pomiglianu, u blizini Napulja. Njegova opasnost od zatvaranja postrojenja može biti usmerena na fabriku Fiat u Cassino, koja još nije glasala o takvim mjerama za smanjenje troškova. Prema konsultantskoj firmi AlixPartners, italijanski automobilski pogoni - najvećim delom Fiat - posluju sa samo 53 posto svojih kapaciteta, najniži nivo bilo koje zemlje u Evropi. Fiat je jedan od jedina evropska proizvođača automobila koji je zatvorio fabriku od početka finansijske krize - svoje sicilijanske fabrike u Termini Imerese, koji je zatvoren prošle godine. Od ostalih proizvođača automobila, Peugeot je 12. jula sazvao sastanak sa sindikatima, a očekuje se da će Philippe Varin, izvršni direktor, tražiti dublje smanjenje troškova i objaviti planove za zatvaranje postrojenja. Unutar kompanije, njena fabrika u Aulnayu izvan Pariza već dugo se raspravljala kao kandidat za zatvaranje. Ford Motor je prošle sedmice upozorio da će gubici u inostranstvu u posljednjem kvartalu biti trostruki od 190 miliona dolara koje je izgubila prije godinu dana. Bob Shanks, glavni finansijski službenik, opisao je Fordove probleme u Evropi kao "strukturalno pitanje". Dok je Ford, koji je pre deset godina restrukturirao u Evropi, do sada reagovao na nižu tražnju srezivanjem radnih dana u svojim pogonima, sada se kaže da razmišlja o zatvaranju pogona. Kompanija odbija da komentariše "špekulacije", ali jedna od njenih dva postrojenja u jeftini Nemačkoj smatra se najugroženijom za zatvaranje.