General Motors has announced that most of its U.S. assembly plants would not close for the summer but instead would increase vehicle deliveries to dealers and customers, despite a significant shortage of semiconductor chips, according to a report by The Columbian.
GM said that it is able to do so because workers at Flint Assembly have devised methods to boost manufacturing line efficiency.
“The global semiconductor shortage remains complex and very fluid, but the speed, agility and commitment of our team, including our dealers, has helped us find creative ways to satisfy customers,” Phil Kienle, GM vice president of North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations told The Columbian. “Customer demand continues to be very strong, and GM’s engineering, supply chain and manufacturing teams have done a remarkable job maximizing the production of high-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles.”
Additionally, GM has begun completing production on thousands of midsize pickup trucks that were partially constructed and stored, awaiting semiconductor chip components.
These unfinished vehicles have been stored in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Texas and Mexico until GM could get the semiconductor chip parts needed to complete and deliver the vehicles.
GM also stated that it anticipates its financial performance for the first half of the year to be “significantly better than the first-half guidance previously provided,” with Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup truck shipments projected to increase by approximately 30,000 units through the week of July 5.
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