2015 Chevrolet Colorado, 2015 GMC Canyon Assembly Stimulates Wentzville, MO Economy
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With the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and its corporate cousin the 2015 GMC Canyon recently entering production in Wentzville Missouri, the two trucks have created a ripple effect in the local supplier market there where the increased demand generated by the duo has caused many suppliers to hire new workers as well as construct new manufacturing facilities in an attempt to keep up with component production for the two trucks.
Since September automotive supplier Faurecia has been making seats for the two trucks at its facility in Wentzville, but when General Motors adds a third shift to the plant early next year. The French supplier will follow suit and add 50 more jobs to the plant which is excellent news for the local economy in the area. Faurecia Automotive Seating North America President Nik Endrud revealed the plans during a press conference at the plant Wednesday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In addition to Faurecia, the ripple effect of the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and 2015 GMC Canyon assembly has also impacted facilities through out Missouri and Illinois bringing even more automotive sector jobs to the local communities in those two states. This is a shift from the era when its predecessors were made in Louisiana and went on to be dusty mediocre afterthoughts in the pickup truck segment. The strategy employed by Faurecia and many other auto suppliers that are near bigger automotive plants is called a “just in time” plant. This slick production strategy allows suppliers to be as close as possible to the OEM manufacturer (GM, in Faurecia’s case). This plays out to their advantage if GM needs a specific component from Faurecia (such as a certain seat fabric). Within four hours of GM’s notification for the part in question, it is on GM’s assembly line where it can be installed quickly into a particular vehicle. Endrud elaborated further on the results of this strategy stating “These seats go just across the road, right when they need it.”
Faurecia is not the only company in town though since GM has contracts with 300 additional suppliers to produce nearly 3,000 parts for the 2015 Colorado and 2015 Canyon. An example of this is 10 suppliers in Missouri which acted quickly when GM formally kicked off production of the trucks supplying components such as wheels, glass, acoustic components, as well as battery components which are all sent to Wentzville where they eventually find there way to the assembly line and ultimately in either a 2015 Chevrolet Colorado or 2015 GMC Canyon pickup, according to a supplier list released by GM to the Post-Dispatch.
While the ripple effect reaches out to many other firms that make many other components for the two trucks, the tremendous boom in growth that it will bring to Wentzville in terms of job growth and expansion is certainly welcome news to the surrounding area, and is a compelling example of how OEM manufacturers and suppliers are intertwined in the production of an automobile and how this union also benefits the lives of workers and their families.
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