As far as I could tell everything will be back to normal this morning with production starting as scheduled.
A bit of history, in 2002 Saab was forced to change its finance system and move the whole thing to Barcelona where GM had its central european system located. This system was used until January this year when Saab got their own system which apparently still has some glitches… TTela has a story about this coming out this morning, not available online yet though…
We are waiting for more official information from SAAB but personally I think this was just a minor issue.
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*UPDATE 1:
The no 1 swedish news channel SVT (Swedish Television) did not spend more than 10-15 seconds on the story this morning… clearly nothing they feel is serious. The story about Sweden sending fighter-aircrafts to Libya is something that they are covering mainly this morning…
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*UPDATE 2:
Swedish Tv4 about SAAB spent about 30 seconds on the story including an interview with Svenåke Berglie who is CEO of fordonskomponentgruppen (a supplier of SAAB).
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*UPDATE 3:
Press release from Spyker
STATEMENT ON SAAB AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTION
Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 30 March 2011 – Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) announces that after a short production stop at Saab Automobile yesterday afternoon, this morning production re-started again.
Certain suppliers halted supplies to Saab Automobile pending discussions about payments and supply terms. Saab Automobile expects to resolve these issues in the short term, also to prevent any further disruptions in supply. Saab Automobile has sufficient means to meet its immediate liquidity needs from existing and available sources. In addition, Saab Automobile continues to work on longer term solutions to further strengthen its financial position and improve its capital structure.
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*UPDATE 4:
According to ttela.se, production will stop again at 11pm (do they mean am?):
According to the data is output once stopped at Saab Automobile. Production must be stopped just before 11 pm, and the reason cited again is a materials shortage.
In addition to DB Schenker, IAC in Färgelanda will be affected.
[Updated 12:35]
Saab spokesman Thomas Schulz would not comment on the production stoppage.
“… [all] I can say is that we have been in contact with all suppliers and told them that they must do everything they can to deliver materials,” he says.
He also confirmed that it concerns many [suppliers].
“All suppliers are affected and it has to do with our new payment system which unfortunately has been a problem.”
And it is not only Schenker DB that Saab has a problem with is clear – from several directions, information on the IAC in Färgelanda hit by defaults, and that it reduced or even reserves its production is linked to the Saab.
Again, it all comes down to Tim’s original post– Saab transitioned to a new payment system, and the entire process hasn’t been as smooth as it should have been. Has Saab made mistakes? Definitely. Are they easily remedied and not worth going crazy about, absolutely. When a company goes from being part of one of the world’s largest conglomerates to an independent entity, there’s bound to be hiccups and a learning curve. I’m actually surprised this didn’t happen sooner. It’s a good sign that there’s enough demand to warrant the supplies in the first place, and I think the suppliers will agree we all want Saab to succeed.
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*UPDATE 5:
Eric Geers and Hakan Scott have spoken with svd.se, and confirm how overblown this situation has become.
Do you have cash flow problems?
“No, but we negotiate the delivery and payment conditions with a handful of suppliers. Have we just-in-time deliveries as we have this can happen [for more on just-in-time delivery system problems, read this article] Now we have reached an agreement with Schenker on payments and deliveries but I can’t go into details of the negotiations,” he says.
There will not be major supply disruptions because Saab has cash reserves.
“Our liquidity is not the problem,” says head of information Eric Geers said.
He would not comment on all suppliers have been paid on time or not.
Hakan Skött, IF Metall’s Chairman of Saab, told SvD.se that he did not know much about production stoppages, and he did not think it is particularly noteworthy as it happens from time to time.
“We have had production stoppage several times, although there has been a little more than normal but I don’t think there is something odd about it.”
He is not surprised by the news that Vladimir Antonov submitted a formal application to the National Debt Office to go in as the owner of Saab Automobile.
“He’s talked about it for a while,” he said.
Hakan Skött said that staff were well aware that Saab has a tough time ahead.
“Nobody has expected the moon. People are not worried about the situation of the company, but all the negative newspaper writings certainly don’t help it.”
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*UPDATE 6: Eric Geers confirms production back to normal on Thursday
(Reuters) – Dutch group Spyker’s ailing Swedish automaker Saab will start production again on Thursday and has solved a problem over deliveries and payment with a key supplier, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Saab spokesman Eric Geers said the company had had fruitful talks with transport firm Schenker, which would start deliveries to Saab again and allow production to resume.
Geers spoke after production stopped for a second day on Wednesday following problems with suppliers, who have said they have not been paid.
Spkyer has said Saab has no short-term funding issues.
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