General Motors Adjusts Output at Indiana Facility

General Motors decided to trim the output at its full-size truck plant in Indiana and add shifts to a pickup factory in Michigan in order to improve the balance inventory on dealer lots. The targeted facility is Fort Wayne Assembly in Roanoke, Indiana which manufactures the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

The facility will close the first of January in addition to the last week of December, according to Rich LeTourneau shop chairman at UAW Local 2209. Also, shifts at the plant have been canceled for the rest of the year.

"We got a lot of trucks on hand. The yard is full of trucks, and the market is fluctuating, which is controlling a lot of the buying power," Rich LeTourneau, was quoted as saying by The Detroit Free Press. Also, some analysts have raised the flag over the GM’s pickup inventory, which hit a 122-day supply in June before falling to 115 days at the end of July. A typical inventory for full-sized pickups would be an 80-day inventory.

Furthermore, Don Johnson, GM US sales chief forecasts the car manufacturer’s inventory will fall around 200,000 units, meaning a 90-day supply, by the end of the year. He further explained that that the larger than needed inventory was developed partly because an foretasted ride in sales during the second half of the year.

General Motors also said that it would spend $328 million to upgrade the Flint facility in order to manufacture the next-generation truck.