Jeep Factory Halted for Three Weeks After Aluminum Plant Fire

A Stellantis NV plant in Michigan will remain shut down for several weeks due to a shortage of key components, a sign of the growing fallout from a supplier’s aluminum factory fire last month.

Production at the automaker’s Warren plant, which makes the high-end Jeep Wagoneer SUV, was halted Oct. 13 and will stay idle until the week of Nov. 3, the company said via email. Stellantis cited “a parts shortage” without providing additional details.

Eric Graham, president of Local 140 of the United Auto Workers union, which represents hourly employees in Warren, said the plant is running short on aluminum hoods and doors that go into the Wagoneer. Stellantis has communicated that the aluminum factory fire was to blame, he said.

The industry has been bracing for disruptions from the Sept. 16 incident, when a blaze broke out at a Novelis Inc. plant in Oswego, New York. The company, owned by Indian steel and copper producer Hindalco Industries Ltd., said the fire damaged its hot mill and impacted other production centers at the facility, its largest wholly owned operation in the US.

Novelis, a major supplier to multiple car manufacturers, says it expects the hot mill to be back in operation in the first quarter of next year.

Ford Motor Co. has also been impacted by the fire. The automaker already cut back on production of models that have aluminum body panels, including large SUVs and the electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck, according to union officials. Ford has said it’s working closely with Atlanta-based Novelis to explore “all possible alternatives to minimize any potential disruptions.”

Top photo: The Stellantis Warren plant in Warren, Michigan. Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg.