Photo: GM
Here we go again: General Motors has recently announced that it plans to suspend the operations at its Fort Wayne plant in Indiana because of the same reasons that have wreaked havoc in the automotive industry in the last couple of years.
The chip shortage is making it harder and harder to keep the production going, and General Motors claims the pickup truck plant will shut down for two weeks next month as it works on improving its current semiconductor inventory.
The Fort Wayne plant, where GM builds the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra, has 4,000 employees and works on three shifts per day.
However, due to the tight chip inventory, General Motors says it will suspend the operations on the weeks of April 4 and 11. It’s still not clear if the company plans to return to three shifts after the production is resumed.
This isn’t the first time General Motors has turned to temporary halts of its production to deal with the chip shortage, and there’s a good chance it won’t be the last either. However, the company is working on multiple fronts to remove the disruptions affecting its manufacturing operations.
For example, the existing chip inventory has been mostly used for pickup trucks and SUVs, as the company tries to prioritize the models that bring home the bacon. But given the semiconductor crisis is far from coming to an end, such a strategy isn’t always possible.
Not a long time ago, General Motors also started selling vehicles without certain non-safety systems, all in an attempt to reduce the number of chips it installs on its models.
And, of course, GM isn’t the only carmaker turning to such decisions. Earlier this week, Ford too confirmed it would suspend the operations at some European facilities, not only because of the chip shortage but also to the component crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
The Fort Wayne plant, where GM builds the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra, has 4,000 employees and works on three shifts per day.
However, due to the tight chip inventory, General Motors says it will suspend the operations on the weeks of April 4 and 11. It’s still not clear if the company plans to return to three shifts after the production is resumed.
This isn’t the first time General Motors has turned to temporary halts of its production to deal with the chip shortage, and there’s a good chance it won’t be the last either. However, the company is working on multiple fronts to remove the disruptions affecting its manufacturing operations.
For example, the existing chip inventory has been mostly used for pickup trucks and SUVs, as the company tries to prioritize the models that bring home the bacon. But given the semiconductor crisis is far from coming to an end, such a strategy isn’t always possible.
Not a long time ago, General Motors also started selling vehicles without certain non-safety systems, all in an attempt to reduce the number of chips it installs on its models.
And, of course, GM isn’t the only carmaker turning to such decisions. Earlier this week, Ford too confirmed it would suspend the operations at some European facilities, not only because of the chip shortage but also to the component crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
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