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Plant production and delay issues​

First, there are major shortages in regards to parts that are outsourced from companies in Asia and most of these parts are electrical in nature primarily superconductors, microchips, processors, etc. The shortage is mainly due to Covid related issues like plant closures and local government quarantine guidelines that have either cut or reduced overall production capabilities. The most problematic part shortage is with the Body Control Module/Power Control Module aka BCM/PCM. Of course the big three North American Manufacturers all use the same vendor(s) for a majority of these parts. Several high profile plants have laid off workers, reduced production hours or temporarily closed plants due to the parts shortage.

Second, there are staffing issues at some or all plants due to negotiated UAW rules and bylaws that allow union workers to choose when and how they work if it all with regards to Covid. Basically the plant cannot force a union worker to comply with their duties if the employee does not feel safe or if the employee has underlying health issues or any other of a myriad of issues that were negotiated by the UAW last year. This has caused a dramatic slow down at some plants that did not have enough apprentices or part time employees to fill the void. It was explained to me like this – If a high school  has an outbreak of the flu & 25% of the teachers called in sick the school has to use a pool of substitutes to cover the classes if they dont have enough substitutes then the school must close the doors. This in effect is what is happening at some locations. 

 
Third, there are transportation delays. The average delivery time from plant to drop ship has increased on average 15 days across the board. The reasons for this are a mixed bag of issues ranging from lack of personnel at the rail yards, lack of parts available to keep the machinery working and lack of trains due to priority – meaning the trains are being used for higher priority transportation like medical equipment and supplies.
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