Ekh
Elio Addict
Alternatively, keep both shifts but drop a day's production, running 5 instead of 6 days per week (I think that's what they're planning to run). Most folks would rather deal with a reduction in pay than a lay-off, don't you think?I'm hoping that you'll see the first couple of months production driving a huge increase in orders. I really don't see selling 1,000 cars a day though. I know, bad Elio Fan, bad. But, I hope they do. They won't be able to shut down a shift and start it back up on a whim. But, like most things, demand will be high at first and then probably taper off. I can see Elio starting with one shift and going to two for a while until it shows there isn't quite the demand for two shifts worth of production. They can throttle the lines though so it isn't all or nothing. Instead of popping an Elio out every 54 seconds, they can lengthen that a bit. Let's say they stretch it out to 90 seconds a vehicle. That would have each shift producing 320 vehicles rather than 533 that the line can run. That's a difference of 426 per day. So, Elio can handle a 60% swing in demand. By the time that comes to pass, they'll have a really good feel for demand. They should look into exports to Canada by then and THAT will allow them to keep the second shift.
Look at the bright side - if they go down to a single shift, they'll be able to pick and chose the best between shifts.