General Motors has begun reopening certain manufacturing plants in Mexico as it prepares to bring full production capacity back in a “in a gradual, scheduled and safe way,” the automaker’s Mexican arm said this week.
GM Mexico workers returned to work at the automaker’s engine and transmission plants in the Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila and Silao, Guanajuato manufacturing complexes on Thursday. The assembly lines at the Ramos Arizpe and Silao complexes were tentatively scheduled to come back online today, as well, pending the status of their suppliers. The automaker said the “restart date of operations for the GM manufacturing complexes in Toluca, Estado de México and San Luis Potosà is still being determined,” at this time.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared transportation manufacturing plants as essential as of May 18th, paving the way for GM Mexico’s plants to begin reopening.
GM’s Mexican plants will follow the same safety protocols as those in the United States, which it outlined in a 40-page handbook sent to employees last week. The automaker said this information “will be shared with suppliers,” to help keep workers at their respective plants safe as well.
“The well-being and safety of our collaborators have been and will be our highest priority, which is why we are doing everything necessary to guarantee a safe and reliable return to operations,” GM Mexico president Francisco Garza said this week. “After almost two months of suspension of activities, we will reopen our manufacturing complexes applying the strictest sanitary safety protocols and we are ready to move forward, working for Mexico.”
A number of GM’s parts and vehicle assembly plants came back online this week, as well, including Flint Assembly and Flint Engine, Fort Wayne Assembly, Tonawanda Engine, Spring Hill Manufacturing, Wentzville Assembly, Orion Assembly and Lansing Delta Assembly. Other large plants, such as Arlington Assembly and Bowling Green Assembly, are set to come back online on Monday, May 26th. GM plans to slowly bring these plants up to full capacity, with most only operating on a single shift at first.
Subscribe to GM Authority as we bring you the latest GM-related COVID-19 news, GM production news and ongoing General Motors news coverage.
Comment
One can only look at the Tremec/Mexico plant, making the 9080 Corvette transmission, as a happy event. The mechanical and the electronic Dual Clutch Transmissions are sorely needed in Bowling Green at the Assembly Plant. Until I looked on line yesterday, I had not realized that there was a China/Taiwan connection with the company. Belgium was listed as having some kind of connection as well. Presumably, this is to provide ZF with some competition. The articles on the net explained the difference in gearing ratios in the Z51 and non-Z51 package transmissions. Further a very special type of transmission fluid was detailed. The only negative, was a report that GM might be failing to fill the transmission, leaving it two quarts diminished. This has caused some cars or at least a car to experience catastrophic transmission failure. It is most imperative to have the level of fluid checked prior to going to a race track to track the C8. $100, approximately will cover about two quarts of this precious fluid. AF