General Motors is slicing time beyond regulation manufacturing this weekend at two U.S. meeting vegetation that make its extremely worthwhile full-size pickups because of the ongoing semiconductor chip scarcity impacting the worldwide automotive business.

The vegetation in Flint, Michigan, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, produce a mixture of the corporate’s full-size pickups, together with the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 fashions in addition to their bigger siblings.

That is the primary time the Detroit automaker has lower manufacturing shifts for its full-size pickups because of the monthslong chip scarcity. GM has considerably diminished manufacturing at its car and crossover plants in North America to prioritize chips for the pickups in addition to the corporate’s full-size SUVs.

In complete, GM is eliminating three time beyond regulation shifts between the 2 vegetation on Saturday and Sunday.

“As we proceed to handle the semiconductor affect on our vegetation, we’re balancing components availability with our means to run effectively for the whole week,” GM stated in an emailed assertion.

GM additionally produces the 1500 variations of the Silverado and Sierra pickup at a plant in Mexico.

Along with the shift cuts, GM stated Friday it’s canceling scheduled downtime the weeks of June 28 and July 5 in any respect U.S. vegetation besides a midsize truck plant in Missouri. GM hopes manufacturing throughout these weeks, which is historically often called a summer season shutdown interval, will help in making up misplaced manufacturing from the primary half of the 12 months.

The modifications come a day after GM and Ford Motor introduced plans to briefly idle or lengthen shutdowns at several plants in North America.

GM CEO Mary Barra and Ford CEO Jim Farley are anticipated to participate Monday in a virtual CEO summit with the Biden administration to debate the worldwide semiconductor scarcity.

Semiconductors are key elements in automotive manufacturing and are utilized in infotainment, energy steering and braking methods, amongst different issues. As a number of vegetation shuttered final 12 months attributable to Covid, suppliers directed semiconductors away from automakers to different industries, making a scarcity after shopper demand snapped again stronger than anticipated. The auto components can include a number of sizes and several types of chips.

For months, GM and Ford have been prioritizing meeting of high-margin vehicles equivalent to full-size pickups by slicing manufacturing of automobiles and crossovers. The businesses are even partially constructing pickups to finish and ship at a later date.

GM expects the chip scarcity will cut back its working revenue by $1.5 billion to $2 billion this 12 months, whereas Ford stated the scenario may decrease its earnings by $1 billion to $2.5 billion in 2021.

Consulting agency AlixPartners estimates the chip scarcity will lower $60.6 billion in income from the worldwide automotive business this 12 months.