General Motors Co (GM) is to end production this week at the first of five North American plants it wants to close by early next year as part of a company-wide restructuring.
The last American-made Chevrolet Cruze is to come off the assembly line today at GM’s sprawling Ohio assembly plant near Youngstown, GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said on Monday.
The plant closings come as the Detroit-based automaker moves toward shifting its focus to making trucks, sports utility vehicles, and electric and autonomous vehicles.
Photo: Bloomberg
The United Auto Workers has sued GM over the closings, which still must be negotiated with the union.
Ohio’s political leaders along with union officials and workers are leading a campaign to save the Lordstown plant, but more than 300 already have transferred to other GM factories.
The plant employed more than 4,000 people just a few years ago, but has been down to 1,400 hourly employees in the past few months.
US President Donald Trump blasted GM in November last year after it announced plans to shed up to 14,000 workers in North America.
He singled out the Ohio plant as one he wants to stay open.
The Lordstown plant has been a focal point because of Trump’s pledge at a rally last year in Youngstown, where he told people not to sell their houses because manufacturing jobs were coming back.
GM targeted the plant because of flagging demand for the subcompact Cruz sedan, which still would be produced in Mexico.
Village and school officials in Lordstown hope GM will give the factory another product to put people back to work.
“They have been a great neighbor and I’m not going to count them out,” Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill said. “If they’re going to revamp that plant, it’s a lot easier when there’s no production in it.”
Lordstown, a village of about 3,200 people, sees about 40 percent of its budget come from income taxes paid by plant employees, Hill said.
The threat of the plant closing has shaken the tiny Lordstown school district and its 550 students, and prompted adjustments, Superintendent Terry Armstrong said.
Senior nights for winter sports were held early so athletes could have both parents attend.
“Things like that keep popping up,” Armstrong said.
Community food and clothing pantries have been set up to help families affected by earlier layoffs at the plant, Armstrong said.
He expects enrollment to drop as families sell their homes and take jobs with GM in other states.
The automaker has said that most of its blue-collar workers who lose jobs in the US would be able to transfer to other plants in the Midwest and south.
The other plants slated to close are assembly plants in Detroit and Oshawa, Ontario, and transmission plants in Warren, Michigan, and near Baltimore.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new