General Motors raising output at 3 factories
DETROIT - General Motors Co. will go to 24-hour operations at factories in Kansas, Michigan and Indiana to handle an expected increase in demand and to make up for production lost from a large-scale factory consolidation announced earlier in the year. The automaker says it will add a third shift at its factories in Kansas City, Kan., Delta Township, Mich., near Lansing, and Fort Wayne, Ind. About 2,400 production workers will be recalled as a result of the added shifts, and 600 more will be recalled at parts factories across the country, said Tim Lee, group vice president for global manufacturing. The increases announced Tuesday, coupled with other production increases unveiled during the summer, will allow GM to raise North American production from about 1.9 million vehicles this year to 2.8 million in 2010, Lee said. The increase also is necessary because of an expected sales increase next year and because GM's inventory was at a record-low level of 378,000 at the end of August, said Mark LaNeve, vice president of U.S. sales. GM's plant in White Marsh, which makes transmissions for heavy-duty pickup trucks, has added a small amount of overtime, said John Raut, a factory spokesman. Raut said he doesn't anticipate any changes in employment at the plant, which has 178 hourly workers and 41 salaried employees.
