Third shift starts early at Chrysler

Alex Gary, ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR, BELVIDERE — About 1,000 people will begin their jobs at DaimlerChrysler’s Belvidere assembly plant a week earlier than previously announced.

The third-shift at the 3.9-million-square-foot plant will begin at 11 p.m. Sunday. Earlier start dates centered around the last week in July. The new workers will bring employment at the plant to about 3,600.

This is the first time in its 41-year history the plant will run 24 hours a day.
Workers are making the Dodge Caliber and the Jeep Compass. Production of a third model, the Jeep Patriot, is scheduled to begin later this third quarter.

The plant was down to 1,650 workers on one shift when the Caliber went into retail production in January. In March, DaimlerChrysler reestablished a second shift and boosted the payroll to 2,650.