General Motors has temporarily paused vehicle production at two U.S. plants that assemble highly profitable large pickups and SUVs, due to supply chain disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene.
The automaker canceled shifts on Thursday and Friday at its Flint, Michigan, plant, which manufactures heavy-duty trucks, as well as at the Arlington Assembly plant in Texas, where full-size SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade, and GMC Yukon are produced.
As of Friday morning, a GM spokeswoman declined to predict when the plants would resume production.
However, a message sent to workers at the Arlington facility on Thursday, indicated that production at the plant was expected to restart on Monday.
“We are collaborating with our suppliers to restore operations as swiftly and safely as possible, prioritizing their employees and communities, while we work to limit the impact on our own facilities,” GM said in an emailed statement.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida late last week, severely affecting the southeastern U.S. and parts of western North Carolina. The storm has claimed at least 215 lives, with hundreds still missing.
Jeffrey Morrison, GM’s vice president of global purchasing and supply chain, acknowledged on Thursday that both the hurricane and the recent port workers’ strike had disrupted the company’s operations. The strike was resolved later that day, with dockworkers returning to work on Friday.
Morrison noted that GM has taken significant steps to improve its supply chain management since the pandemic.
“Covid really gave us an opportunity to map our value chain much more thoroughly,” he said during an automotive conference hosted by Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition in Detroit.
“Before Covid, understanding the sub-tier suppliers was a challenge. Now, we have a comprehensive view of these sub-tiers. This allows us not only to manage the materials we directly purchase, but also to communicate effectively with all of our suppliers.”
Morrison added that GM aims to assist suppliers as much as possible when they experience production disruptions.
