Lansing GM plants continue shutdown at Consumers Energy's request
Haley HansenLANSING — Three General Motors facilities in Lansing called off second shifts Thursday.
On Wednesday evening, Consumers Energy asked General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to suspend operations to allow the utility to address supply issues due to low temperatures, GM spokesperson Erin Davis said.
Lansing Delta Township Assembly, Lansing Grand River Assembly, Lansing Regional Stamping and Lansing Grand River Stamping shut down second shift Wednesday evening, as well as third and first shifts on Thursday morning.
Davis said Lansing Delta Township Assembly, Lansing Grand River Assembly and Lansing Grand River Stamping will cancel second shift production for Thursday. Lansing Regional Stamping will resume normal operations on second shift starting Thursday at 2 p.m., she said.
In all, 13 GM plants and four non-manufacturing GM sites suspended operations because of the cold, Davis said. That included plants in Flint, Pontiac, Bay City, Saginaw, Warren and Orion Township.
At 12:45 p.m., Davis said she was waiting to hear if any third shift operations would resume at any of the Lansing area plants.
Both assembly plants in Lansing and Delta Township have two shifts. There are stamping facilities near each assembly plant that run three shifts. Maintenance crews are also spread out over three shifts at the plants.
Consumers Energy asked customers to voluntarily reduce their natural gas usage due to a fire at the Ray Township Natural Gas Compressor Station in Macomb County on Wednesday.
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Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.