Hyundai’s Alabama production plant is once again facing changes to its schedule as the car company braces for upcoming changes.
Because of decreasing demand for the Hyundai Santa Fe SUV, the company has proposed a drop in production that will cut 11 days off of the schedule for 2008. This means that the plant will shift to a four day work week starting this Friday, as the only way to cut the days in the schedule is to drop days eacch week.
Plant workers will then be given the opportunity to take the 11 days as pure vacation time or to take personal leave days on all Fridays. The off-days are to begin October 25 and will run through December. Three days off related to Thanksgiving and Christmas have been added to the plant’s previously scheduled downtime.
So what does this mean for Hyundai? Well, in the short-term it means very little, as most car companies are coming to terms with a variety of cutbacks. Plant hours are being shifted around frequently to accomodate the change in production, which inevitably leaves some people in tought positions. Over the long-term, Hyundai will need to find a way to recover the losses and turn production around somehow.
Car companies around the world are cutting time as the economic crisis continues to wage war on the consumer. But there is hope, as Hyundai is making the right moves to protect everyone from the Doylestown Hyundai dealer to the Alabama factory worker. These are tough times, yet Hyundai’s composure reminds of that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.