Fca, Maserati and more: what Stellantis does in Italy. Fim-Cisl report
The numbers of Stellantis production in Italy and the demands of the trade unions. The speech by Ferdinando Uliano, national secretary of Fim Cisl
STELLANTIS ITALY PRODUCTION SITUATION 2021
The production data for the 1st Quarter of 2021 mark a growth of + 30.9% compared to the figure for the previous year. According to the data we collected in 2021, 208,242 units were produced, including cars and commercial vans, compared to 159,088 in 2020. The growth in volumes was determined compared to the same period of the previous year largely due to the pandemic, the production block during the lock-down had a greater impact than the decline in registrations on the Italian and European market. The 126,762 (+ 25.67%) cars produced represent about 60% of the total production of the Italian plants and the remaining 40% is made up of commercial vehicle production. In the last half of 2020 in the Italian plants of Stellantis we had seen a recovery in production, which had made it possible to recover the negative effects caused largely by the pandemic in the first half of 2020 (-35%). A restart determined by a recovery of the market, also thanks to the more substantial and structured incentives, put in place by our country and in Europe, but also for the positive effects caused by the new 500 full electric, by the launch of the Jeep Compass hybrids,
Renegade, Panda and the excellent success of commercial vehicles, which represent over a third of total production. It is foreseeable that the next quarters of 2021 will also be characterized by better production results compared to 2020, the latter year conditioned by the production stops determined by the first lock-down.
However, some elements of decline can be seen compared to the thrust of the last months of 2020, with higher requests for layoffs in all production sites except for the production of commercial vehicles.
INVESTMENT SITUATION INDUSTRIAL PLAN FCA ITALY 2019-2021
We are in the advanced stage of the 5.5 billion euros of investments envisaged in the FCA industrial plan for the period 2019-2021. Much has been completed and the last part is nearing completion in 2021. In the first meeting with the CEO of Stellantis Carlo Tavares, we were assured that the investments will be completed. As FIM-CISL we will verify that the commitments made are all respected and the meeting scheduled for April 15, 2021 in Mirafiori with the leaders of Stellantis Europe Enlarged will be an important appointment to verify the situation in all the group's plants.
FCA's plan involved a series of investments: from new models, to new hybrid and electric engines, but also new transmissions and gearboxes, and the production of batteries, together with important product restylings.
In 2021 the investments will be completed with the production launches of the electric Ducato; the restyling on Compass, Giulia, Stelvio and Ducato; the Mhev hybrid versions of 500x, Compass, Renegade, Levante.
The new production launches will be represented by the Maserati Grecale SUV (also in a hybrid version), the Maserati Mc20 presented in Modena last September, the Maserati GT and GC in Mirafiori and the Alfa Romeo Tonale (also in the two hybrid versions).
2020 was instead characterized by the production launches of the Panda Hybrid, of the new Jeep
Compass also in the hybrid Phev version, the Jeep Renegade hybrid Phev, the new electric 500, the launch of the Ghibli Hybrid towards the end of the year and the restylings on Maserati Levante and Quattroporte. Investments were also made in the new Mopar distribution center in Rivalta, in the development of engines in Cento, Termoli and Pratola Serra, in transmissions and gearboxes in Verrone.
STELLANTIS, SITUATION IN THE FINAL PRODUCTION FACTORIES
TURIN PRODUCTION CENTER
The production volumes measured in the first quarter of 2021 were equal to 18,311 units compared to the 2,325 recorded in 2020. The greatest weight of the growth was determined by the production of the 500e which, started in October 2020, in the first three months of 2021 attested on 13.002 units. We must then consider the total production stoppage in March 2020 caused by the
pandemic. Already in the final part of 2020, the launch of production of the 500e had allowed in just over three months, with 19,008 units produced, to exceed the production volumes of 2019, surpassing the 17,695 Maserati produced in 2020.
The production restart of the 500e at the beginning of 2021 was not robust enough to support and guarantee the extension of the 160 administered, expiring in January, which had been inserted in October. As Fim-Cisl we had already reiterated since then that it was necessary to cautiously welcome the news of the end of the layoffs in Mirafiori and the inclusion after new years employed, this is because in the phase of starting a new production, a growth sustained by the launch is inevitable. on the market, but then it is essential to verify the stabilization phase and in a market made unstable by the pandemic this created elements of uncertainty.
The production of the Maserati Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante with about 5,309 units also did better in terms of production than the 2,325 produced in the first quarter of 2020, but the effect is always due in large part to the production block due to the lockdown. Even in the most optimistic of the forecasts for 2021, estimating productions above 2020, around 20,000 units would still be – 60% compared to the results achieved in 2017. Both the Levante production and that of Ghibli and Quattroporte have long been on a shift. The redundancy fund was resumed both at the Mirafiori and Grugliasco sites. In Mirafiori, in addition to ten days of Cassa Integrazione at the beginning of the year, two weeks of layoffs were added to the Maserati SUV line, to adapt the line to the next Maserati Granturismo and Grancabrio productions. In the Grugliasco plant, the 1,127 workers completed just over half of the 60 working days.
Even the communication made to the executive of the Mirafiori Works Council yesterday, which on the 500e line from 19 April is expected to switch to a daily shift, even if motivated by a difficulty in supplying batteries, worries us because goes to further reduce the production already passed from 300 to 210 units per day.
It is essential for the production center to complete the investments envisaged in the old FCA plan, specifically it becomes necessary to start production of the two Maserati GC and GT in the coming months and to complete the electrification process, subsequently the new industrial plan of Stellantis will have to intervene in further strengthen the production capacity of the Turin hub also with new other models.
MASERATI – MODENA
Production currently underway in Modena concerns the residual production of the Alfa Romeo 4C, approximately 100 cars were completed in the first quarter of 2021. The final stages of preparation are being completed for the start of the production climb of Maserati's super sports car, the new MC20, which will take place in the next few days. In the start-up phase, the employees completed a very intense training course. Investments concerned
all stages of production, so much so that the production process was carried out entirely on site: from the first body in the area, to the engine, up to the painting.
The market has already responded well with the acquisition of an important order book which gives ample coverage to the production capacity of the Modena plant. There are over 1200 employees at the two Modena sites, around 200 production managers and 1,000 are engineers engaged in design and development activities.
CASSINO
The Cassino plant is the plant with the worst production result compared to the 1st quarter of 2020. The worsening is -17% compared to the already negative result of last year caused by the pandemic. The stop of production at the end of 2020 is heavily influenced. The productions of Giulia and Stelvio amounted to 10,566 units; The decline in production volumes at the Cassino plant has continued since 2017. Currently the Cassinese plant is at 10% -15% of its production potential. As already foreseen, 2021 will see the production situation worsen further, with the production of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta ceasing.
Throughout 2021, the use of social safety nets will continue to secure employment, which in the last year and a half has reduced by 900 workers, going from about 4,300 to 3,400. There are on average 400/500 workers in CIG every day, who alternate in rotation, to which we must add about 23 days of collective closure with layoffs which affected all the workforce in the first three months of 2021. Naturally the situation is having heavy effects on the related industries of the plant. The productions of Giulia and Stelvio are carried out on a single central shift. There is a lot of expectation on the production launch of the new Maserati Grecale SUV for a first restart of production volumes, even if it will not be enough to eliminate the use of social safety nets. The first pre-series have already been produced and job one is scheduled for the month of October, so the situation of suffering in production volumes will continue throughout 2021.
Also during this year there will be restyling on Giulia and Stelvio, which could give new impetus to the two models. With the Maserati Grecale, the premium platform with hybrid engine will also arrive in Cassino, which will subsequently allow it to be developed on the other two Alfa Romeo models, probably in 2022.
The situation of the Cassino plant is certainly the most suffering in terms of volumes and Stellantis' future industrial plans will have to include a strong investment in new products, to further characterize and strengthen this plant and the group in the premium sector.
MELFI
In 2020, the production of Melfi alone represented half of the cars produced by FCA. In the first three months of 2021, with 63,805 cars, it increased its production by 29% compared to 2020, continuing to represent half of the Stellantis group's car production in Italy. The excellent result was also determined by the start of production of the Jeep Compass in the second half of 2020, which in the first quarter of 2021 accounted for 13,260 units.
Despite these positive data, which have always characterized the Lucanian plant, in the first three months of the year some facts have increased the concerns of workers and trade unions also about this plant. The beginning of 2021 was to be the time of full employment of the 7,200 workers, with the start of the third shift on the hybrid production line and the reabsorption of the 1,500 workers on rotating layoffs from September 2018, after the production stop of the Fiat Punto. . Instead, we have witnessed continuous postponements and further requests for CIG with collective production stops for 14 days, partly justified by the shortages on semiconductor supplies and the downturn in the market. To this already critical situation, some internal voices at the plant were subsequently added on an ongoing study, commissioned by the top management of Stellantis, which is evaluating the possibility of concentrating all the 500x, Jeep Renegade and Compass productions on one line. We are not aware of the details of the study, but what can be easily understood is that a hypothesis of this type, if confirmed, could lead to a structural reduction in the production capacity of the plant with a negative impact on employment. A situation that in the meeting of 20 January with CEO Carlos Tavares was never envisaged. There was talk of a difficult moment for the automotive sector, but the commitment to safeguarding the factories and employment of the Stellantis companies in Italy was reaffirmed. As Fim-Cisl we believe that the discussion and future choices must be oriented in that direction.
For this reason, both as national secretariats and the executive of the CDF of Melfi, we have urgently requested clarification from the top management of Stellantis Europe Enlarged.
The meeting is set for April 15 in Turin where the situation in Melfi and all the Italian plants will be examined. In the meeting then we expect for Melfi the confirmations of the investments of 2021, which included the hybrid engines Mhev, which will go on the 500x and the Cabrio version of the 500x.
FCA – POMIGLIANO
Production in the first quarter of 2021 reached 33,980 units (-6.18%), down compared to 2020, in particular due to the collective two-week shutdown due to the strong investment in the bodywork to adapt the plant to the next production of the SUV Tonale Alfa Romeo. 2020 closed with a strong recovery in Panda production, especially in the last few quarters, reaching over 140,478 cars produced. The 2021 without further stops in the next quarters will exceed the production attested in 2020.
To date, the Pomigliano plant employs 4,481 workers, on average 35% of the workforce is on rotating layoffs and production in the two shifts reaches 990 units.
Work on the new Alfa Romeo Suv Tonale model is continuing and is nearing completion and involved investments in bodywork, painting and the former area 147.
It is now essential to keep the start of the new Tonale production by the end of 2021.
The production of the new Alfa Romeo SUV together with the production of the various Panda models will allow the plants to be saturated and Pomigliano to be fully occupied. In the future industrial plan of Stellantis it will be necessary to have the production confirmed also for the future new Panda or another new model capable of saturating the production capacity of the plant.
SEVEL – ATESSA
Production in commercial vehicles accounts for over 39% of the total quarterly production. With 81,480 commercial vehicles produced, production increased by 40% in 2020. Having successfully passed the European anti-trust check, the potential for production growth of the plant in Val di Sangro (Abruzzo) is ensured.
The leading Stellantis Professional plant is running at full capacity. The growth in volumes is reflected in an increase in the use of light commercial vehicles in online sales and in a strong demand in the motor home sector. In the last period, this has favored the insertion of many workers with temporary and permanent contracts, who have reached the quota of about 800 workers. The increase in the number of people administered was also due to the constraints introduced by the dignity decree which led the Stellantis Group to use the administration for an indefinite period. In the coming months, as FIM-CISL we believe it is essential to open a discussion with the Stellantis group, to build direct hiring paths for these workers who work continuously and without interruptions in Sevel.
In the meantime, the company has formalized the request to start from the month of May with 18 shifts, this would determine a further increase in employment partly covered by new entries and temporary transfers from other sites.
As FIM-CISL, we negatively assessed the choice not to extend approximately 47 contracts expiring in February. For this reason we have requested to proceed with the extensions of expiring contracts and the recovery of non-renewed contracts, before the start of the 18 shifts. On the product front, in addition to foreseeing a strong and significant restyling of the Ducato aimed at modernizing and further improving it, the version with electric motorization will also be launched. Also in the next meeting on 15 April we will ask the top management of Stellantis Europe for confirmation of the investments planned for 2021 on the structure and plants and timely information on commercial production in the plant in Poland.
FCA: PRODUCTION VOLUMES FROM 2013 TO 31 MARCH 2021
THE NEW STELLANTIS GROUP MUST BE STRATEGIC FOR ITALIAN EMPLOYMENT AND PLANTS, WE ARE CONTRACTED TO EVERY RESIZING PROCESS
We welcomed the birth of Stellantis, because it represents a great opportunity for the overall stability of the Italian plants, their future prospect, especially for securing employment. In a sector such as the automotive one strongly conditioned by the need for large financial, capital and technological resources to cope with significant investments to the changes underway in mobility, on the change of engines and the continuous launch of new technologically advanced products, the birth of Stellantis is vital for Italian production companies. The potential that the fourth world manufacturer, with over 8 million cars, technologies, production plants and a global commercial network, is a firepower that must be oriented towards work and the economic and social stability of the various production contexts in the countries where it is present. . In this new corporate reality, synergies, advantages on platforms and models must be determined to positively face these changes without endangering employment. The top management of Stellantis have estimated these advantages at around 5 billion euros, as FIM-CISL also reiterated in the meeting with the CEO Carlos Tavares, that these resources, together with others that the new Group can find more easily, they must be reinvested in the future business plan to make it even stronger and more strategic.
As Fim-Cisl we will vigorously oversee the choices and future industrial plans of Stellantis to avoid repercussions on plants and employment, for this reason we shared the reassurances given by Carlos Tavares on employment and plants and we reiterated our involvement in the construction process of the industrial plan future of Stellantis. If, as stated by the CEO of Stellantis in the meeting of 20 January 2021, there must be cohesion and participation between workers, trade unions and company management because the "enemies are not within Stellantis", we must be consistent and work in that direction. . What has been happening in recent weeks cannot happen, that some studies and intervention choices aimed at a not well understood: "reduce internal costs" are not subject to analysis and preventive and constructive comparison with the trade unions that represent Italian workers . For this reason, we immediately requested an in-person meeting with the top management of Stellantis, who have the utmost responsibility for the choices of our plants and institutions. Meeting that we got for April 15 in Turin and will have at the center of the discussion a timely verification of the situation of the different realities of our country, with a focus on the most critical situations. We know that this is not the discussion of Stellantis' future business plan, but precise and strong clarifications are needed on how it intends to operate and how trade union relations must be practiced.
In the new Stellantis, Fim-Cisl is ready to face even demanding challenges with good trade union relations when these have as their objective investments, positive prospects for factories and employment. On the other hand, we are unwilling and opposed when these objectives are not guaranteed and the interests of male and female workers are called into question. This is why it is necessary to intensify trade union relations in a constructive and operational way within the group, developing the activity that is already being carried out in a participatory key.
It is a challenge, that of participation, which is increasingly important and strategic for a global group like Stellantis which, like Fim, we will carry on. This is our way of being and syndicating and we have demonstrated it in recent years in times of difficulty, when we contributed to the rescue of Fiat and the growth of the FCA group.
In the meeting of the 15th opening we will also verify the completion status of the old 2019-2021 plan of 5 billion investments.
The next appointment will be for the comparison with the new Stellantis group on the new industrial plan, for us the role that will be assigned to Italy in the various fields will be important, starting from research, to the relaunch of Italian brands such as Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Fiat. and 500 and further develop Jeep productions with the aim and guarantee of securing factories and jobs. It will be equally important to enhance the technological and professional skills of the more than 7850 workers and workers of the central offices. In that reality are represented the best skills in professional terms of support activities for the development and success of products (design, research, development of manufacturing, sales, administration, etc.) and of support to the various realities in the world and for the FIM -CISL must be made safe, enhanced and made available for the entire Stellantis group.
It is necessary to continue and strengthen the presence of Maserati models, with hybrid versions of the Levante and the new Gran Cabrio and Gran Turismo models. The Sevel and Melfi plants are running at full capacity with models highly demanded by the market and with excellent growth prospects. The production launches of the Maserati Grecale SUV and subsequently of the Alfa Tonale SUV are expected, fundamental for the production in the Pomigliano and Cassino plants, but in the next industrial plan it is essential to clarify the prospects and future investments of these two plants that have not yet reached full employment. It is then necessary to address the issue of factories that produce diesel engines to build the conditions for safeguarding industrial and employment prospects, also including plans for productive reconversion if necessary.
It is important that the new Stellantis uses the points of excellence in the luxury and premium segment on which FCA is in the most advanced position to further strengthen its presence also with other brands.
We are also urging the Italian government to play a positive and active role in strengthening the presence of the car sector in our country, with particular attention to the Stellantis group. This is due both to the importance that a sector such as the automotive one represents in terms of employment and technology, but also due to a focus on the resources of the Recovery Plan in favor of ecological tradition and sustainable mobility. In recent days we held an important demonstration in front of the Ministry of Economic Development to urge Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti to urgently convene the sector table, which has not yet been convened despite constant pressure.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/fca-maserati-e-non-solo-cosa-fa-stellantis-in-italia-report-fim-cisl/ on Thu, 08 Apr 2021 12:10:15 +0000.