GM Manufacturing Plan Shutters Two Assembly Plants, Idles Two Others

DETROIT : June 1, 2009 - General Motors Corp. names 12 manufacturing sites it intends to close as part of its reorganization under Chapter 11 protection, and the list includes assembly plants in Pontiac, MI, and Wilmington, DE.


GM, which filed for bankruptcy earlier today in New York as anticipated, says it will shutter its fullsize-pickup plant in Pontiac in October and the Wilmington facility building the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Opel GT next month.

Assembly plants in Orion Twp., MI, and Spring Hill, TN, will be idled. Orion, which builds the Pontiac G6 lineup of midsize cars and the Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan, will go on standby beginning in September. Spring Hill, which builds the recently launched Chevy Traverse, goes into standby mode in November. Traverse production likely will be shifted to the Delta Township, MI, plant that builds its Lambda platform mates, the Saturn Outlook, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia.

GM said last week it plans to build a future small car in the U.S. at one of the idled plants. The auto maker will determine at a later date which plant receives the new car, expected to account for 160,000 units annually. A major metal stamping plant also on standby will restart to the supply the new car.

Ceasing production at the four assembly plants would remove 690,000 units of available production capacity from GM’s manufacturing footprint, according to Ward’s data. Available production assumes 2-shift production with no downtime other than scheduled holidays and vacations.

GM’s action takes out 764,000 units of total annual capacity, or the maximum number of vehicles the plants could build.

GM also will close three Service Parts Operations warehousing and parts-distribution sites in Boston; Jacksonville, FL; and Columbus, OH; at the end of this year.

Other manufacturing sites affected by today’s announcement include the following:

• Indianapolis Stamping (IN) – Closing December 2011.
  
• Mansfield Stamping (OH) – Closing June 2010.
  
• Pontiac Stamping (MI) – Standby capacity beginning December 2010.
  
• Livonia Engine (MI) – Closing June 2010.
  
• Flint North Components (MI) – Closing December 2010.
  
• Willow Run Powertrain (MI) – Closing December 2010.
  
• Parma Components (OH) – Closing December 2010.
  
• Fredericksburg Components (VA) – Closing December 2010.

GM previously announced it would close a stamping plant in Grand Rapids, MI, this month and already has shuttered its Massena Casting (NY) powertrain facility.

The auto maker’s manufacturing plan will reduce its total number of assembly, powertrain and stamping facilities in the U.S. from 47 in 2008 to 34 by the end of 2010 and 33 by 2012.

Gary Cowger, group vice president-Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations at GM, says the auto maker’s manufacturing operation will emerge from the restructuring “leaner, stronger and more flexible.

“Flexible manufacturing enables us to quickly respond to consumer preferences and changing market conditions,” Cowger says in a statement.

GM intends to offer another round of buyouts to its 61,000 United Auto Workers union-represented workers. GM wants to trim its hourly workforce from to 46,600 by 2012, according to the viability plan the auto maker submitted to the U.S. Treasury. Combined with 53,000 blue-collar departures over the last two years through other attrition programs and natural retirement, GM has trimmed its hourly employment by about 60,500 jobs.

At the same time, the auto maker will shrink its North American salaried workforce from the 35,100 employed at the end of last year to 27,200 by the end of 2009.

The 100-year-old auto maker expects to exit bankruptcy within 60 to 90 days, at which time it will go to market with four core brands – Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

[Source : WARDSAUTO]