UAW’s Bob King going to Italy to tour Fiat, meet with Marchionne

Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne

In an effort to bring more jobs to UAW shops in the U.S., President Bob King will be making a trip to Italy to tour Fiat S.p.A’s facilities and meet with CEO Sergio Marchionne. King will be looking at the systems in place at Fiat that Marchionne is starting to phase in stateside, while meeting with the automakers suppliers in attempts to sway them into UAW-represented plants in North America so that there can better parts integration between Chrysler and Fiat.

King has praised Marchionne for his plans to resurrect Chrysler, which is owned in large part by a UAW benefits fund. King has lent specific mention to Marchionne’s attitude of ‘let’s do it together’ and his vision for integrating Chrysler and Fiat.

So far, the Jefferson North Plant in Detroit which produces the Grand Cherokee is the only one to have received a makeover to the Fiat system, which the company describes as one of “World Class Manufacturing”. By introducing the manufacturing method, Marchionne plans to “restore credibility and confidence in a company whose past economic and commercial failures are still too fresh and vivid in the minds of the public to be forgotten.”

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)