China plant closures trip up GM supply chain

Chinese overnment steps to stop the dealdy coronavirus from spreading have forced General Motors to close 15 assembly plants there, and  Chief Financial Officer Dhivya Suryadevara said Wednesday it is too soon to talk about how long it will take to reopen the factories.

“We’ve activated contingency plans across the enterprise,” she said. “People are working around the clock here trying to mitigate the impact of this. But it’s really early days and it’s very fluid.”

Suryadevara said parts flow from Chinese factories to GM’s U.S. factories and other plants around the world. The company is looking at what vehicles could be affected by a prolonged shortage if Chinese factories stay closed.

“It’s an integrated supply chain,” she said. “We are looking at all of that and figuring out what are the key components, which are the vehicles that are impacted and which are the trims and models that are impacted and what we can do for each of those parts to mitigate the impact,” she said. “We’ll have more to say as the situation unfolds.”-AP