Increase Production - Detroit Free Press Apr 6, 2001

Posted: April 6, 2010

GM to bring 100 jobs back
at Warren plant

BY TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

On the heels of a government report showing the
most jobs created in nearly three years, General
Motors is also bringing more than 100 hourly
employees back to work.

GM said Monday that the jobs were being added
to the Warren Transmission plant, which
employs about 780 people and makes
transmissions for the Chevy Equinox, Chevy
Traverse, Chevy Malibu, Buick LaCrosse and
other vehicles.

Sales of the Equinox during the first three
months of the year are up 130% compared with
the same period last year. LaCrosse sales are up
197%.

"Increased market demand for our great vehicles
is driving expansion of our production
operations. Additional jobs will allow us to grow
the business, while meeting increasing customer
demand for our hot products," Dave Tatman,
Warren plant manager, said in a statement.

The new jobs at Warren will be filled with laid-
off workers from other regional plants, said
Kevin Nadrowski, a GM spokesman.

GM spent the first quarter of 2010 working on
plans to increase production of its popular new
vehicles, which dealers have said are scarce.

GM announced plans last month to increase
production of the Equinox by doing final
assembly at a second Canadian plant.

The Equinox and GMC Terrain are built at GM's
CAMI Automotive plant in Ingersoll, Ontario,
where there isn't room to paint or do final
assembly of any more vehicles.

GM's new plan to boost production is to expand
the body shop and produce extra Equinox bodies
at CAMI that will then be shipped about two
hours to GM's Oshawa plant for paint and final
assembly.

Additional plans to increase production include:

• GM's Lansing-Delta Township plant begins a
third shift this week and dealers should see extra
Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia models
this month, Susan Docherty, GM vice president
of marketing, said last week.

• Dealers should see increased levels of the
Equinox and GMC Terrain in the next 60 to 90
days, she added.

• Overtime is being added in May and June at the
plant that makes the Camaro. That means dealers
should see additional inventory in late June and
July.

• Earlier this year, a third shift was added at
GM's assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., to
increase production of the LaCrosse and Chevy
Malibu