GM Resumes Truck Production At Flint, Arlington Plants After Supplier Parts Shortage

GM has restarted production of trucks and SUVs at two of its facilities, the GM Flint Assembly plant in Michigan and the GM Arlington Assembly plant in Texas, on Monday, October 7^th, 2024, after a temporary production halt caused by Hurricane Helene.

Production was stopped because several of GM’s component suppliers are in the areas, such as North Carolina, that were worst struck by flooding and other problems caused by the storm.

The suppliers affected include an engine and transmission maker, Linamar Corporation, which has a factory location in Asheville, North Carolina, one of the worst-hit towns in the state. A second facility in Mills River, North Carolina was also damaged by the flooding caused by Helene. The company’s CEO Jim Jarrell remarked that “we knew that the rain was going to come through, but, quite frankly, nobody expected this.”

The restart of production at Flint and Arlington seems to indicate GM’s suppliers have also resumed operations following the post-hurricane cleanup. Electricity, knocked out by the flooding, was already back on at the Linamar plant in Asheville by September 29^th, but was not restored to Mills River until October 4^th according to news reports.

The Flint and Arlington plants are important to The General’s production, focusing as they do on making some of the automaker’s popular and profitable models. The Chevy Silverado HD and the GMC Sierra HD are two of the key nameplates that roll off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.

Meanwhile, the Arlington, Texas facility is responsible for making high-profile models from three of General Motors’ core brands, namely the Chevy Tahoe and Chevy Suburban sport-utilities, plus the GMC Yukon SUV and the premium Cadillac Escalade SUV. Flint started running again on Monday morning, while Arlington began producing its vehicle models later in the day.

Several other GM facilities have their own production troubles, with the exclusive producer of the Chevy Corvette, the Bowling Green Assembly plant, experiencing labor disruptions. A threatened UAW strike at the Fort Wayne assembly plant in Roanoke, Indiana – over The General using senior staff to fill in for laid off second-shift and third-shift temporary workers – was described as “neither warranted nor legal in these circumstances” by GM.