A whole new generation of General Motors full size SUVs is on its way but until then, demand for the current generation of big haulers is still sky-high. To keep up with that demand, numerous employees at the Arlington Assembly plant in Texas have been working large amounts of overtime and have been doing so since the fourth quarter of 2009. Currently, there are approximately 2,500 hourly and salaried men and women who work on two production shifts but it simply isn’t enough. In order to help out and get ready for the upcoming generation change, GM will be adding an entirely new, third shift to Arlington’s production.
The reasoning for the continued overtime across the past few years is simply due to cost. “Based on economic uncertainty and gas price volatility, we took a prudent approach by relying extensively on overtime over the past few years,” said Larry Zahner, manufacturing manager for GM North America. According to Zahner, demand for vehicles such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade as well as others in their segment is beginning to stabilize. The shift will create relief for current Arlington employees with the addition of a workforce 800 people strong. While the plant pumped out nearly 270,000 trucks last year, that number will surely go up when the shift starts up in the first quarter of 2013.
