General Motors said it will suspend production at its Shreveport, La., pickup assembly plant next week because of a parts shortage resulting from the disaster in Japan.
It is the first automotive plant closure in North America to result from the disaster that has disrupted supply chains of parts and components for automakers.
Toyota and Subaru have said they would halt overtime work at their U.S. plants in order to conserve supplies of parts, but both automakers have continued production.
GM said its other North American plants continue to operate normally. The company would not identify the parts involved but said it planned to resume production as soon as possible. "At this point, we have sufficient vehicles to meet customer demand," the company said.
Although U.S. assembly plants source most of their components within North America, trans-Pacific supply chains from Japan are an important part of the auto manufacturing mix.
Last year the 575,371 20-foot-equivalent units of containers the U.S. imported from Japan included 230,463 TEUs of auto parts, tires and engines, motors and parts, according to PIERS, a sister company of The Journal of Commerce.
It is the first automotive plant closure in North America to result from the disaster that has disrupted supply chains of parts and components for automakers.
Toyota and Subaru have said they would halt overtime work at their U.S. plants in order to conserve supplies of parts, but both automakers have continued production.
GM said its other North American plants continue to operate normally. The company would not identify the parts involved but said it planned to resume production as soon as possible. "At this point, we have sufficient vehicles to meet customer demand," the company said.
Although U.S. assembly plants source most of their components within North America, trans-Pacific supply chains from Japan are an important part of the auto manufacturing mix.
Last year the 575,371 20-foot-equivalent units of containers the U.S. imported from Japan included 230,463 TEUs of auto parts, tires and engines, motors and parts, according to PIERS, a sister company of The Journal of Commerce.