GM has announced plans to invest nearly USD250m in its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, reports the Detroit News. The investment will go towards installing flexible body shop machines, and allow the facility to make different vehicles on multiple platforms – a move taken to help the automaker in adjusting more efficiently to industry trends. The construction work on the facility is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014. "Conversion of the CAMI Assembly Plant to a flexible manufacturing facility will provide CAMI with the ability to produce multiple architecture and body styles," said Kevin Williams, President and Managing Director of GM Canada. The plant currently produces the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers, employing 2,700 workers.
Significance: The decision to make the plant a flexible assembly facility is indicative of the growing demand for GM's products, which has already resulted in an additional shift being added to squeeze production volumes at the plant. The move has effectively removed the threat hanging over the plant which has otherwise drawn criticism for its high cost structure from GM management. However, the automaker made it clear that it is not announcing any new product for the plant at the moment, indicating that the production location of the next-generation Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers is still not decided. The Ingersoll plant is competing with GM's other manufacturing plants in the US and Mexico to build the next generation of these popular crossovers. A flexible assembly plant in Canada can be used by the company to respond to sudden demand changes while still producing the crossovers at a different location.
