Patriot cuts into Caliber, Compass production time

By Alex Gary
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
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BELVIDERE — Slowly but surely, Jeep new-car dealers should start seeing more Patriots.

Workers at the DaimlerChrysler assembly plant in Belvidere turned out 3,033 of the crossover SUV that strongly resembles the discontinued Jeep Cherokee, nearly triple the number from January.

In February, dealers sold just 644 Patriots simply because there were few available. The Chrysler Group’s February sales figures showed just 800 were in stock at the end of the month.
With an ample supply of the other two models made in Belvidere — dealers sold 4,071 Jeep Compasses in February and had 16,500 in stock and sold 9,900 Calibers with 15,900 still in supply — the company cut back slightly on both models to make room for the Patriot. The 3,600 workers on three shifts assembled 16,879 Calibers in February, a nearly 10 percent drop from January’s total of 18,714, and 7,479 Compasses, an 11.3 percent cut from January’s 8,427 completed models.

The company, in fact, has steadily cut Compass production each month since October when workers put together 10,847 of them.

The Chrysler Group invested $419 million in the 3.9 million-square-foot plant in 2005 and 2006 to make it the most automated and flexible of any of the company’s North American assembly plants. Workers are able to increase and decrease production of any of the models without having to shut down the line. It’s the first Chrysler Group plant to be converted to the more flexible system, and the Register Star is tracking monthly production to see how the company uses the new system.

The monthly sales and production reports also illustrate how much the company is leaning on its Belvidere work force and the products made there in a time of need. In February, the company announced an aggressive restructuring that included plant shutdowns and worker buyouts to return the Chrysler Group to profitability by 2008.

But while the Chrysler Group is cutting back elsewhere, it’s increasing the workload in Belvidere. Through the first two months of the 2007, workers have completed 55,628 Calibers, Compasses and Patriots. At that pace, they would produce 333,768 of the three crossover SUVs by the end of the year. That would be a shade under the plant’s busiest year ever. In 1986, workers on two shifts put together 335,298 Plymouth Horizons and Dodge Omnis.