General Motors is delaying the addition of a second shift at its Michigan assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt. In May, GM said that it would add a second shift at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant in early 2012 to double Volt production. Instead, a plant overhaul completed this summer, along with a more-modest addition of workers, will allow GM to double production starting early next year while remaining on one shift, the company said today.
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GM said the move “will significantly reduce costs, and has no impact on the plant’s ability to make 60,000 Volts and Amperas (the European version of the Volt) in 2012.” In May, GM upped its 2012 production forecast to 60,000, from an earlier forecast of 45,000. GM said it still will add about 300 people at the start of the year to increase Volt production, but it will remain on one 10-hour shift, four days a week.
GM is pushing back plans for a second shift, which would have added hundreds more workers, until the second half of 2012. By then, it’s expected that production of the next-generation Chevy Malibu will have begun at the plant.
George McGregor, president of UAW Local 22, which represents workers at the plant, said he had expected the addition of a second shift sometime in 2012, but GM had not specified when.
“The sooner the better, but I guess demand will dictate when that happens,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get a third shift someday, too.”
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