ST. LOUIS — Time is money and every minute the strike ticks on not only are the automakers losing dollars, but loss will trickle down into local economies.
George Zsidisin, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL), said the focus he has had throughout his career is understanding supply chain risk and resilience.
He looks at all the things that could go wrong in the supply chain ... such as worker strikes.
Zsidisin said strikes are a form of supply chain disruption and a costly one.
"Time is, in my opinion, the most valuable asset an individual or company can have. Once you lose out on that time for being able to produce those respective products for your customers, you can never get that back," he added.
The current strike is not a total shutdown, so for the time being, the impact will be limited.
"I do not see it having a very significant effects for the next week or thereabouts," Zsidisin told 5 On Your Side. "But if this extends or expands it can have absolutely devastating effects on many many people. [The] automotive industry is one of our key industries here in the U.S."
Comparing the current strike to the General Motors strike in 2019, Zsidisin said if we are looking at the one that occurred in 2019, that was just focused on General Motors itself. In my viewpoint, I think this has a much broader impact overall on the United States.