Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) has temporarily halted production at its Serbian plant due to a shortage of parts supplied by factories in China.
Planned downtime at the Kragujevac plant in Serbia – which makes the Fiat 500L car – has been reworked due to the availability of certain components sourced in China, a spokesman for company told Reuters.
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Reuters reported that the supply of audio system parts had been disrupted.
FCA CEO Mike Manley recently warned that one of its European plants is facing a halt to production due to a break in supply of a critical component sourced in China.
Many factories in the Wuhan and Hubei province have been on lockdown since the start of the Chinese new year holidays and have extended their shutdowns.
Manley told the Financial Times there was one critical supplier of parts that was putting European production at risk, but also added that he was concerned about the possible impact of three other suppliers in China.
The emerging problems for FCA outside of China are likely to be mirrored by other vehicle manufacturers and reflect the both the long-run internationalisation of parts supply chains and the predominance of ‘just-in-time’ lean manufacturing processes that keep inventory low.
