TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – As energy costs skyrocket, Chrysler LLC is looking at ways to save money, including, perhaps, a move to workweeks of four 10-hour days at several of its factories.

“We’re looking at doing four 10s across the shops to help reduce energy costs,” Chrysler executive vice president of manufacturing Frank Ewasyshyn told The Detroit Free Press on Monday.

“For us, it’s a big energy savings,” Ewasyshyn said, “just as it is for employees with gasoline in their cars.”

He was in Traverse City on Monday for the Center for Automotive Research’s annual Management Briefing Seminars, a week-long gathering of industry leaders.

Beyond condensing the workweek, the Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker is looking at a variety of energy-saving ideas, from optimizing tire pressure in shipping vehicles to talking with retail companies about sharing freight space.

“With the rising fuel costs, everybody is looking for new ways. It’s about every ounce of energy you consume,” Ewasyshyn said.

Plant energy usage is down 15 percent on a per-vehicle basis, according to Chrysler.

The automaker is looking at ways to save on freight costs by teaming up with retail companies running empty trucks in directions that Chrysler needs deliveries and vice versa. “We’ve been talking to people who have routes parallel to ours that are going one place to another in the opposite direction full and coming back empty. We’re looking at opportunities to fill that and go the other way,” he said.

Moving from a workweek of five, eight-hour days would help the automaker save money in obvious ways – and in ways unique to a complicated manufacturing facility. For example, a plant’s large paint ovens can’t be turned off during a five-day workweek.

“But you go to … a three-day weekend, you can take it down cold, turn it right off. … That saves a lot of natural gas, a lot of electricity,” Ewasyshyn said.

Ewasyshyn said the automaker is talking with the UAW about a shorter workweek but couldn’t provide a time frame for possible rollout.