This week’s Honda production shutdown will continue at least one more week.
Last week Honda announced that most manufacturing plants in North America, including the Marysville Auto Plant, would be “temporarily suspending production during the week of March 22.”
Honda announced Thursday that, “in addition to the production suspension during the week of March 22, in which most of our mass production auto plants in North America are impacted, some of the plants will also temporarily suspend production during the week of March 29.”
Honda spokesman Chris Abbruzzese called the situation “fluid.” He said the production suspension would impact not only the Marysville Auto Plant but also the Performance Manufacturing Center, the auto plant in East Liberty. He said each North American auto plant will be impacted though, “we will have some production running on specific lines in Alabama, Ohio and Canada during this time.”
“Our engine and transmissions plants will be impacted but we will still have some production at those facilities throughout the week of March 29,” Abbruzzese said.
While the plants will not be producing cars, associates will have options. Abbruzzese said the company has worked to keep associates aware of the changes as well as of the options.
“If they want to come in to work, there are alternate work activities they can do,” Abbruzzese said.
A written statement from the company detailed that associates who do not come to work will not be penalized. They will have the option of using their paid time off or taking the day off without pay.
Officials said they will, “continue to manage a number of supply chain issues related to a number of factors.”
According to the company, the impact from COVID-19, congestion at various ports, the microchip shortage and severe winter weather over the past several weeks have all contributed to the supply chain issues.
“Our purchasing and production teams are working to limit the impact of this situation and are adjusting production as necessary in order to carefully manage the available supply of parts and meet the needs of our customers,” according to a release from the company.
Last week, officials said they did not know how long the shutdown would last at any of the plants. They echoed that thought this week.
“Since this is a fluid situation that requires flexibility, the timing and length of production adjustments could change,” according to a statement from the company.
Abbruzzese said the company is not disclosing, “plant-specific information, models or volumes” surrounding the slowdown.