GM Patches Plants to Boost Production

Being faced with an unexpected demand for the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, American manufacturer GM had to come up with a fast, affordable solution which would allow them to increase the production capacity of the two models.

The carmaker converted the unused space at the CAMI Body Shop in Ingersoll, Ontario, to add a few more cars to the total output. A similar development occurred in the Oshawa Paint Shop and Final Assembly facility in Ontario, with the combined output for the two models being increased by 60,000 to 80,000 vehicles.

The CAMI plant will be shipping five crossover bodies at a time to Oshawa, around the clock, to keep production running.

“Although we knew these were great products and that they’d be a hit in the marketplace, we really didn’t anticipate the degree to which the market positively responded,” General Motors Vice President of Manufacturing and Labor Diana Tremblay said during the 2010 Management Briefing Seminars.

The news that GM will boost production of the crossovers by retooling body shops was made public at the beginning of the year. The solution was chosen because it's cheaper than building a new facility from scratch and is more permanent then adding an extra shift to any given facility.

According to GM, 16,000 Equinox and Terrain vehicles were sold in June, representing an increase of some 208 percent compared to last year (keep in mind though that GM was bankrupt in June 2009). Overall, since the beginning of the year and until the end of June, GM sold 94,000 crossovers, representing an increase of 193 percent.