GM is pausing production at its Fort Wayne Assembly plant in Indiana for one week from September 23 because of “a temporary supply-chain issue” according to the carmaker.

GM did not provide further details of the disruption but three supporting component plants are also pausing production because of the interruption at Fort Wayne: Marion Metal, Grand Rapids and Lansing Grand River. 

GM invests in its Fort Wayne ICE truck plant

GM invests in its Fort Wayne ICE truck plant

The Fort Wayne plant makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups and daily output is around 1,300 units. Last year Chevrolet sold more than 555,000 Silverados and GMC delivered almost 296,000 Sierras.

GM was forced to shut the Fort Wayne plant for a week in August last year because of a parts shortage, which also affected its Wentzville assembly plant in Missouri and its Silao plant in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Here Jeff Morrison, vice-president of global purchasing and supply chain talks about what GM is doing in terms of automotive sourcing and inventory management to address the shortages in materials, logistics capacity and labour  

GM announced last year that it is investing $632m in its Fort Wayne Assembly plant for the production of its next generation internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks. The investment will fund new conveyors, tooling and equipment in the plant’s body and general assembly areas. The carmaker suspended production for retooling at the plant over three separate weeks this year in April, June and July.

Over the last decade, GM has invested $32 billion into its manufacturing and parts distribution facilities and made sure to steadily invest in its traditional ICE vehicles alongside new EV and battery manufacturing facilities.

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