DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1996, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996                TAG: 9603110205EDITION: CITY           SECTION: METROTODAY NEWS PAGE: 2B SOURCE: By Todd R. Wallack        DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   ANALYSTS SAY STRIKE AT GM WILL BE SHORT   Experts say a strike Tuesday at two local General Motors Corp. brake plantscould cripple the company's car and truck production in a matter of days or weeks, forcing the company to settle soon.   "The GM parts plants look like they were designed by the United Auto Workers," quipped auto analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities. "When you have strikes like this at hingepoints in the supply line, they don't last long.   "The company starts out talking tough, then it contemplates what will happen and quickly caves in," Healy said. Negotiations continue today.    The affected plants supply brake components to almost all of GM's North American assembly operations, which typically keep only a short supply of extra parts.   GM spokesman Tom Klipstine said production hadnt been affected through the first 24 hours of the strike, but would not speculate on when plants would have to shut down.   A strike against the same plant in 1994 closed plants in several states before it ended three days later. Workers also struck briefly in 1991, but GM settled production slowed.   This time, two factors might persuade GM to hold out for a few extra days:   * High car inventories. "The company might treat the strike as a way to reduce its inventory and save it the embarrassment of announcing a production cutback," Healy said.   * Upcoming national negotiations. GM will have to negotiate a new labor agreement with union officials soon, and neither side may want to set a bad precedent by compromising too easily. The current UAW agreement expires in September.   Even so, Healy of Burnham Securities doubts it will last longer than another week.    "If the strike went on to its logical conclusion, it would shut down the entire North American production and probably cost the company something like $250 million a week in lost profits," Healy said. "That's not going to happen."'LENGTH: Medium:   54 LINESSUBJ: STRIKE      AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY NA: GENERAL MOTORS CORP.    DAVID HEALY    BURNHAM SECURITIES    TOM KLIPSTINE GEOG: DAYTON, OHIO ENHANCER: REF7