GM's Plans to Increase Truck Production Delayed by Parts Shortage

By Mike Colias and Ben Foldy 

A shortage of parts from Mexico is hampering General Motors Co.'s plans to quickly ramp up production of high-profit pickup trucks, according to a union official and other people familiar with the matter, underscoring the auto industry's halting restart after a two-month shutdown from the pandemic.

GM has delayed plans to roughly double output at its two main U.S. pickup-truck factories by adding additional shifts of workers next week, these people said. The auto maker doesn't yet have the flow of parts it needs to accelerate production as planned, they said.

The auto maker postponed plans to call back roughly 1,300 workers to its Fort Wayne, Ind., truck factory starting Tuesday for a second eight-hour work shift, said Rich LeTourneau, an official at United Auto Workers Local 2209, which represents workers at the factory. The return date tentatively has been pushed back to June 1, he said.

"We continue to plan to ramp up production in a gradual cadence," a GM spokesman said, declining to discuss specifics about the schedule.

GM also delayed adding a second work shift at its Flint, Mich., pickup factory, which makes GM's largest, priciest pickup trucks, some of the people said.

More than 1,000 additional employees had been scheduled to come back Tuesday, but those plans have been delayed and workers haven't been given a new callback date, they said.

U.S. auto makers are juggling supply-chain kinks and putting in new safety protocols as they try to restart operations following an unprecedented eight-week shutdown to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Write to Mike Colias at [e-mail] and Ben Foldy at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 22, 2020 10:02 ET (14:02 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.