General Motors Marks Successful First Day Of Reopening U.S. Assembly Plants
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Several General Motors assembly plants returned to work this week after they were shut down in early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to local Detroit publication Click On Detroit, the reopening “went about as smoothly” as GM could have hoped for at this time, with workers saying they were impressed by the automaker’s newly implemented safety protocols.
Most of GM’s concern over workers spreading COVID-19 were related to the entrances and exits of the plants. In the past, workers would come in close contact with each other as they left the building while the other shift arrived. For this reason, the automaker is only operating one single shift at its U.S. plants right now, with second shifts set to come back online next week.
These GM plants all went back to work as of Monday, May 18th, though they are not operating at full capacity yet:
- Bay City Powertrain
- Bedford Casting Operations
- CAMI Assembly
- Defiance Casting Operations
- Flint Assembly
- Flint Engine
- Fort Wayne Assembly
- GMCH Grand Rapids
- GMCH Kokomo
- GMCH Rochester
- Lansing Delta Assembly
- Orion Assembly
- Toledo Transmission
- Tonawanda Engine Plant
- Romulus Engine
- Saginaw Metal Casting Operations
- Spring Hill Manufacturing
- Toledo Transmission
- Wentzville Assembly
GM CEO Mary Barra, along with other top GM executives like Mark Reuss, are set to visit GM’s U.S. assembly plants in the coming weeks and months to observe how the plants run in a post-pandemic world. The automaker has implemented a number of COVID-19 safety protocols at its production plants, which include taking employee temperatures when they arrive on-site, frequently cleaning workspaces and employee common areas and requiring social distancing measures where possible.
Most GM plants that are not listed above will return to work before the end of June, including its Arlington Assembly plant in Texas and Bowling Green Assembly plant on Kentucky. GM has said previously it expects to be back running at full production capacity in about four weeks.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Company was forced to shut down its Dearborn truck plant on Wednesday afternoon after a worker there tested positive for COVID-19. Two employees also tested positive for COVID-19 at its Chicago Assembly plant in Tuesday, forcing the automaker to close that facility down, as well.
FCA workers have expressed concern over the automaker’s decision to bring its plants back online after 15 FCA employees died after contracting the virus earlier this year, but the company is moving ahead with the plan regardless.
Dennis Donald, a UAW Local 140 member who works at FCA’s Warren Assembly truck plant, said the production output was slower than normal, but the work shift was otherwise uneventful.
“In my area, it was about the same – I mean, a lot slower,” Donald told Click On Detroit. “We might have done like 100 trucks. Usually, we do 400. So it’s real slow right now. Now, the masks, the safety glasses – everyone has to wear them. I agree with that. Other than that, it was pretty much the same.”
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Looking forward to full production again, which means me and my trucks are back supplying plants……I have a massive insurance bill to pay! I’ve run a couple loads myself this week (1 GM 1 Ford) and from what I saw the automakers have done a pretty remarkable job trying to make it work.
With 40 million unemployed, according to the latest numbers, that is a lot of potential buyers not in the market. This does place a lot of auto workers back to work, it’s what we all want but when the product is not selling, I’m seeing temporary plant closings. I was laid off in April 2009, luckily I got a job paying 1/2 of my previous employment by Jan 2010. It wasn’t until Sept 2012 did I feel confident to buy a new Silverado.
I locate New Chevrolet Inventory for Dealerships, only new inventory, and these Dealerships Cant get enough Inventory. Every Dealership, Ford and Chevrolet are begging for Inventory. The Factories need to all open back up and start focusing on America and getting us all back to normal. I see the market from every angle, and i see a great demand for Inventory, but i see big wig CEOs not caring about getting us back to Normalcy. Its ridiculous. Then is July, most Chevrolet factories open back up, but due to the parts not available, its staggering production. too many people have overcame Covid and gotten over it. this is not a Plague, it is real, but so is a Cold/Flu. take precautions, get back to work, and Vote for Trump.