The Shanghai lockdowns resulting from a COVID-19 resurgence continued to affect vehicle and components production this week, according to a Reuters summary.
Two major suppliers have now joined joined Tesla in shutting plants to comply with measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, the news agency reported.
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General Motors’ joint venture in Shanghai maintained production by asking workers to sleep on factory floors and getting passes for trucks to continue deliveries, two sources told Reuters.
Supplier Aptiv told workers at one of its Shanghai facilities, which supplies Tesla and GM’s Shanghai joint venture, to go home on Tuesday because of the need to enforce COVID controls, Reuters sources said.
ThyssenKrupp told Reuters it had closed a Shangai facility, where it assembles production lines for automotive components, including powertrains and batteries, until 6 April to comply with local coronavirus regulations.
The report said the Aptiv and Thyssenkrupp closures came on the second day of a lockdown in Shanghai, a major hub for manufacturing of vehicles. The city had instituted tough controls on movements of people to try to control the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
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By GlobalDataThe lockdown, one of the biggest tests for China’s ‘zero-COVID’ strategy, has forced automakers and suppliers to either try to adapt with extreme measures to keep factories running or to shut down and risk delayed shipments at a time when demand for vehicles is strong.
Supplier Bosch told Reuters its two plants in Shanghai were working with reduced personnel. “We are doing everything we can to maintain the supply chains as much as possible and to serve the demands of our customers,” the company said in a statement.
Reuters noted the worker sleepover measures GM took to keep its Shanghai plant open equate to a ‘closed-loop’ management process which city authorities had asked companies to adopt to stay open during a two-stage lockdown to battle its outbreak.
TheDetroitBureau.com said lockdown had begun on the eastern side of the city, known as Pudong, which contains most of the city’s automotive facilities, including numerous parts factories, as well as the General Motors, Volkswagen and Tesla assembly plants. The campaign would then shift to the western side of Shanghai, known as Puxi, where many factory workers live, so the impact could stretch out into early April.
According to Reuters, in the bubble-like arrangement, workers sleep, live and work in isolation from the rest of the world to prevent virus transmission. A similar system was used at the Winter Olympics in Beijing to seal event personnel off from the public.
The facilities, which GM runs as part of a joint venture with state-owned SAIC Motor, produce Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles. They are in areas east of the Huangpu River which have been locked down from Monday to Friday.
GM, which said last Monday its Shanghai joint venture was producing normally, declined to comment to the news agency on the arrangements at its factory. A spokesperson said the company and its joint ventures had developed and were executing contingency plans with their suppliers to mitigate uncertainty related to COVID-19. SAIC did not have an immediate comment.
SAIC-GM’s ability to keep its Shanghai production lines running contrasts with Tesla which, Reuters reported, had suspended production for the four-day period. It was unable to secure sufficient provisions for its workers to achieve closed-loop management, a news agency source said.
The workers at the affected Aptiv site were told to stay home on Wednesday and await further notice, four sources told Reuters. Two sources said the affected compound produces for Tesla and GM’s Shanghai joint venture with SAIC.
Aptiv’s Shanghai facilities are in the west of the city and had not been affected by the city’s lockdown, which started in eastern districts. The Reuters sources said workers at the affected facility had been told it had to shut due to COVID-19 issues.
Aptiv declined to comment to Reuters on the production suspension. “I can confirm that we are following all government orders and not impacting customers’ production,” an Aptiv spokesperson said.
Tesla, GM and SAIC did not have immediate comment.
Comment: Tesla Shanghai shutdown shows COVID threat remains serious
