Photo: Screenshot from ABC12 video report
The lack of chips is a nightmare that doesn’t seem to come to an end for carmakers out there, and General Motors certainly knows this best.
The company has recently decided to move hundreds of unfinished trucks to an empty field close to I-75 in Mt. Morris, Michigan, as it’s waiting for chips to install certain critical systems.
General Motors has embraced what appears to be a more convenient way of dealing with the semiconductor shortage. Instead of halting the production at the Flint Assembly plant, GM has decided to continue building trucks without installing certain systems that would require a significant number of chips.
The plan was as simple as it could be: all these vehicles were left unfinished, and once they rolled off the assembly lines, they were moved to GM’s parking lots waiting for the chips to be delivered. When the semiconductors become available, the company’s engineers can then install the required systems and ship the trucks to dealerships and customers.
But with an output of 1,000 trucks in 24 hours, it was only a matter of time until the Flint Assembly produced more vehicles than GM can send to its parking lots. So the company has recently moved some of these unfinished vehicles to an empty field close to I-75, with a local media report showing there are several hundreds of trucks currently waiting for chips in the ad-hoc parking lot.
These images perfectly show just how much disruption the global chip shortage has caused in the auto sector. And the bad news is the lack of semiconductors still isn’t supposed to come to an end too soon, with some companies, including Daimler, expecting the struggle to continue into 2023.
General Motors, however, is working on several fronts in an attempt to reduce the impact of the chip shortage, including on working directly with foundries, hoping that by simplifying the supply chain, the impact of a potential disruption would also be lowered.
General Motors has embraced what appears to be a more convenient way of dealing with the semiconductor shortage. Instead of halting the production at the Flint Assembly plant, GM has decided to continue building trucks without installing certain systems that would require a significant number of chips.
The plan was as simple as it could be: all these vehicles were left unfinished, and once they rolled off the assembly lines, they were moved to GM’s parking lots waiting for the chips to be delivered. When the semiconductors become available, the company’s engineers can then install the required systems and ship the trucks to dealerships and customers.
But with an output of 1,000 trucks in 24 hours, it was only a matter of time until the Flint Assembly produced more vehicles than GM can send to its parking lots. So the company has recently moved some of these unfinished vehicles to an empty field close to I-75, with a local media report showing there are several hundreds of trucks currently waiting for chips in the ad-hoc parking lot.
These images perfectly show just how much disruption the global chip shortage has caused in the auto sector. And the bad news is the lack of semiconductors still isn’t supposed to come to an end too soon, with some companies, including Daimler, expecting the struggle to continue into 2023.
General Motors, however, is working on several fronts in an attempt to reduce the impact of the chip shortage, including on working directly with foundries, hoping that by simplifying the supply chain, the impact of a potential disruption would also be lowered.
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