General Motors has announced that it will idle the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, from October until spring 2024. The decision to halt production is a result of delays in the delivery of Ultium battery modules, which power the BrightDrop Zevo 600 and Zevo 410 electric vans produced at the plant.
The automaker cited “previously announced delays in battery-module supply” as the reason for the production stoppage. Production is expected to resume in the spring of 2024, as the launch of CAMI’s new battery-module line is set to fully support BrightDrop production at the plant and supplement EV production at other GM plants.
This is not the first time the CAMI Assembly Plant has experienced a shutdown due to battery module shortages. In July, the plant was idled for two weeks after facing a similar issue. GM CEO Mary Barra noted during a conference call that delays were caused by an unnamed automation equipment supplier struggling with delivery issues, which in turn constrained module assembly capacity. The issue was expected to be resolved by the end of 2023.
Despite the setbacks, General Motors has taken several actions to mitigate the impact. The company sent manufacturing engineering teams to assist the automation supplier and added manual module assembly lines at its EV plants. Additionally, a new 400,000-square-foot facility is set to go online in the second quarter of 2024 to support the production of BrightDrop Zevo vans and other GM EVs.
The CAMI Assembly Plant currently employs around 1,500 people, with 1,200 of them being members of the Unifor union. The upcoming layoffs in mid-October will have a significant impact on the workforce. Unifor’s national president, Lana Payne, described the news as “devastating” and expressed the union’s efforts to urge the company to minimize the downtime period.
Sources:
– The Detroit News
– The London Free Press