Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) restarted van production on Monday at its Atessa plant located in central Italy, a week before the nation prepares to start lifting a national lockdown put in place to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
Italy has said it would permit factories and building sites to resume from May 4 as it plans a staged end to Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown. However, some companies deemed “strategic” and exporting companies were permitted to restart activity sooner to cut the risk of being cut out of the production chain and losing money.
At the Atessa plant, all employees had their temperature tested at the entrance on Monday.
Atessa, which is run by Sevel, a 50-50 joint venture between FCA and France’s PSA, hires more than 6,000 people with a pre-virus daily production of 1,200 units, making it Europe’s largest van assembly plant.
FCA stated production layouts and offices have been reorganized to allow for a greater distance between employees to adhere to health and safety rules the automaker had agreed with unions. Most of the plant’s workers were back at work on Monday, it said.
The automaker has provided workers with personal safety kits, which included face masks, gloves and protective glasses.
“We have been working daily with the Italian government and local officials to plan for a return to production in Italy, while making sure there is no compromise to the safety of anyone working at any of our production facilities or offices,” said Pietro Gorlier, the automaker’s chief operating officer for the EMEA region.
Some other European automakers also resumed factories on Monday.
FCA stopped its Italian operations in mid-March following the Rome’s lockdown rules, but also due to declining demand.
Small sections of four other FCA plants in Italy resumed operations on Monday to supply parts to Atessa, the company said.
FCA informed unions last week of its plans to restart in Atessa and other Italian sites.
The automaker also on Monday restarted preparatory works at its Melfi plant located in southern Italy for the final development of Jeep’s new hybrid car, with an average of 750 employees a day expected this week, and at Turin’s Mirafiori plant for its new electric 500 small car, with around 250 employees a day expected.
About 199,414 people in Italy have been confirmed as being infected with the coronavirus of which 66,624 have made recovery. The virus has killed 26,977 people in the country.
