THUNDER BAY -- Bombardier Transportation has brought some employees from its Mexican facility to Thunder Bay to deal with a problem with the streetcars being built for the Toronto Transit Commission.
A company representative says it's not unusual to have workers from Bombardier's "supplying sites" come to the city to do work on components that were made in other locations.
However, a union representative at the plant said "it's not been that common" to see Mexican workers in the plant.
According to Unifor Local 1075 President Dominic Pasqualino, a Mexican crew of about five is currently working the midnight shift to repair flooring.
"There's been a problem with the floor structure that has come from Mexico...I believe it was a bonding issue between the floor and the floor covering, some 'bubbling' going on," Pasqualino told tbnewswatch.com in an interview.
He said the workers are expected to be at the local plant for at least a week.
"This way they can have good exposure to the problem, see what it is, and prevent it from happening again," Pasqualino said.
By doing it on the overnight shift, he said, there's less disruption to work that's being done during the plant's peak work period.
Bombardier spokesperson Marc-Andre Lefebvre said the company has an "integrated manufacturing footprint," with parts coming to Thunder Bay from multiple sites and suppliers.
What that means, he said, is that if there's a problem with a part "We ask the supplying site to come to Thunder Bay to address the issue. It's the way that we've always worked."
Lefebvre noted that in addition to the Mexican workers, staff from its facilities in Quebec and the state of New York are presently working in the plant. "This is something that we do on a daily basis."
Bombardier has previously pointed to supply-chain issues as a contributor to its failure to hit earlier targets for the Toronto streetcar contract.
Lefebvre said "We've acknowledged issues across our sites, and we've addressed them and we've fixed them. What we may be seeing right now in Thunder Bay are not anything out of the ordinary in the usual build of a car."
Pasqualino agreed that Bombardier has worked hard to utilize whatever of its operations it needs to rectify recent problems. "We're all working as a team to make sure the customer gets its cars as quickly as possible."
Suppliers from Japan and elsewhere have also sent staff to Thunder Bay to resolve issues, he said, noting that the global nature of manufacturing process has both pros and cons.
He called it "a double-edged sword...that has helped in some ways, and made it more complicated in a lot of other ways."
Pasqualino added that "it's certainly a more complex world" than when he started at the plant 40 years ago.
