27 August 2009

Mitsubishi shuts Venezuela factory

Mitsubishi Motors shuttered a subsidiary's Venezuela plant amid problems with worker discipline and a drop in productivity.

A “high level of absenteeism, disobedience, aggression, and lawlessness of some of the workers” drove the firm to temporarily close the factory, which is located in eastern Venezuela and also assembles Hyundai and Fuso cars, the Japanese automaker said.

So far this year, the company averaged 33 cars a day, with 1,412 workers. In 2004, with 590 workers, it was churning out 59 vehicles a day.

“Efficiency went from 74% in 2004 to 30% in 2009,” the company said.

The plant may still reopen if there is a guarantee for “the safety of its workers and employees in a climate of peace and discipline,” Mitsubishi said. MMC Automotriz, a Mitsubishi unit, runs the plant.

Problems between workers and management have been going on for a “prolonged” period at the plant, the company said, but they reached an agreement in March with the help of the Labor Ministry.

Since then, the workers have been producing only about half of the “60 units per day, at a minimum, the union committed to produce,” the company said.

Mitsubishi has manufacturing plants in four countries—the U.S., Netherlands, Thailand, and Japan.

For related information, go to www.isa.org/productivity.