Toyota to suspend production at SA plant for 3 months (San Antonio: sales, costs)

[TexHwyMan]

Production at SA's Tundra plant will be suspended for three months to reduce the inventory of unsold Tundras. Later this year, all Tundra production will be consolidated at SA's plant.

MySA.com: Metro | State (broken link)

[sapphire]

Well, at least they seem committed to keeping the workers busy during the down time. Still very sad news for San Antonio, and all the people working there. It has got to be unnerving for them.

[Steel Man]

I'm familiar with Japanese companies (I work for one) and Kaizan's. I doubt they'll keep everyone busy for 3 months. Sure, there may be room for improvement, but they're pretty efficient now, so maybe one month tops. We'll see, but P/L will come into play sooner or later. My guess would be partial pay down the line until they start up production again.

[sapphire]

My SIL works there, and her hours have already been cut--and cut again.

[scuba steve]

That's not good. But at least they're going to consolidate production there, and maybe they'll start building other models that will sell well now that gas costs more these days.

[Cookiemeister]

Does this mean that the Tundra will be at reduced prices? I am looking for a truck but considered the Tacoma due to the better gas milege and smaller size. I always seem to be in need of a truck. What trucks would you recommend?

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

That's not good. But at least they're going to consolidate production there, and maybe they'll start building other models that will sell well now that gas costs more these days.

They've already told the workers they are not going to spend the money re-doing the line......maybe that will change?

My SIL is going back to her nursing job......she sort of had a midlife crisis, I think, but now she's realizing she had it pretty good.

[SA native]

Near term, future production will be a challenge as demand for "BIG" pickups wanes and the price of gas continues its persistent rise. If oil continues to stay above $100+/barrel over the next 2yrs, more production cuts could ultimately threaten the plant's existence.

[ryneone]

Gee no one saw this coming? Yea lets get into manufacturing that was a smart move!

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by sapphire

They've already told the workers they are not going to spend the money re-doing the line......maybe that will change?

My SIL is going back to her nursing job......she sort of had a midlife crisis, I think, but now she's realizing she had it pretty good.

I'm talking about any expansion plans or redoing the line, but really you never know how the product mix will change over time. Maybe small car sales will pick up and they'll run out of capacity at the locations that build them today, so they'd need to utilize the space in San Antonio that would have extra capacity.