GM to add as many as 700 jobs at Fort Wayne truck assembly plant

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

General Motors' Fort Wayne Assembly Plant will add as many as 700 workers and move to a three-shift production schedule for the first time in the plant's history in April.

The workers will be coming in from other GM plants that are closing, said Alicia Kocher, the plant's communications manager.

The company announced in July that it was moving production of heavy-duty pickups from Pontiac, Mich., to Fort Wayne. The Pontiac plant will close at the end of this month and production of the heavy-duty trucks will begin in Fort Wayne on Jan. 19.

The heavy-duty pickups and the plant's current GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups all will be produced on three shifts to maximize the plant's capabilities, Kocher said.

GM also said Tuesday that its Lansing Delta Township, Mich., plant will add a new shift in April when it begins production of the Chevy Traverse. The Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant that now builds the Traverse will cease production in November but remain on standby.

GM will add a third shift at its Fairfax, Kan., plant in January when it becomes the exclusive builder of the Chevy Malibu. GM's Orion, Mich., plant will end production of the Malibu in November, but will retool for the production of small cars to be sold in the U.S. market in 2011.