GM Will Shut Down Indianapolis Stamping Plant on June 30, 2011

Sad day for those working at the General Motors' stamping plant in Indianapolis. The US-based carmaker has filed a notice with Indiana's Department of Workforce Development to inform that the 2.1 million square foot plant on the White River will shut down operations on June 30, 2011, with layoffs to begin on June 28.

According to the information included in the notification and published by the Journal and Courier, orders will be transferred to other General Motors plants. The factory currently employs 600 people, but the first to be sent home will be the production workers. Still, many of them expect to be transferred to other GM plants, as the company moves forward with the closure.

The Indianapolis stamping plant was one of the facilities included on the shut-down list rolled out by General Motors in June 2009, when the US-based company was still struggling to fight the crisis. As a result of the Chapter 11 filling and the forming of the New GM, chief executives sketched a turnaround plan according to which 33 plants had to close their doors by 2012.

Of course, the explanation they offered was pretty much intended to calm down outraged employees who could protest against GM's decision to terminate their contracts.

“Our manufacturing operations, which already are among the most productive in the industry, will emerge even leaner, stronger and more flexible, as part of the New GM,” said at that time Gary Cowger Group Vice President of GM Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations. “Flexible manufacturing enables us to quickly respond to consumer preferences and changing market conditions.”