Steel Markets
April 13, 2021
GM Finds Chips, Dodges Shutdowns at Two Plants
Written by Michael Cowden
General Motors has secured enough microchips to resume output earlier than planned at one U.S. assembly plant and to avoid taking downtime at a facility in Mexico.
“GM’s supply chain organization has made strides working with our supply base to mitigate the near-term impacts of the semiconductor situation,” a company spokesman told Steel Market Update on Tuesday, April 13.
The Detroit-based automaker will resume output at its Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant in the week of April 19. The facility–which builds the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 SUVs as well as the GMC Acadia SUV–was expected to be idled both this week and next.
And the company is cancelling previously planned downtime at its Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico on a line that makes the Chevrolet Blazer SUV.
The trend is notable because automakers have more often been compelled to extend downtime because of chip and other parts shortages as well as various supply chain snarls.
Ford, for example, is running only two of nine plants in the U.S. and Canada at normal rates this week.
Despites such outages, flat-rolled steel prices have continued to march steadily higher.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
