Shifts to resume at GM Lordstown
Staff report
LORDSTOWN
General Motors Lordstown Complex will resume production Monday after resolving a supplier parts issue.
The plants had been idled since Monday afternoon because of a strut- validity problem.
Workers at both the East and West plants are to report at their normal shift times beginning with the third shift late tonight.
The plants were slated to return to work Thursday night, but officials later decided continued tests of the struts was necessary.
Jesse Toprak, auto analyst with TrueCar.com, said it was a good move by GM to halt production as a precautionary measure.
“If anything, it signifies GM’s emphasis on quality,” he told The Vindicator. “They don’t want Cruze to be hurt in any way. They’ve got a lot riding on it.”
The Cruze earlier this year was America’s best-selling car. Through November, GM has sold more than 215,000 of the Lordstown-built compact cars, outpacing Honda and its perennial leader, Civic, which has totaled about 200,000 sales.
The supplier issues also affected production at the Lake Orion, Mich., plant, which manufactures the Buick Verano, a similarly structured vehicle to the Cruze.
It was the third idling of the Lordstown Complex this year. A fire at a Michigan-based auto supplier halted production for a week in March; a parts shortage also caused a one-day stoppage the same month.
The Lordstown complex is home to about 4,500 employees.