GM plant gets fresh shipment of Microchips

CORRECTION: Satya Veerapaneni’s name was misspelled as ‘Satya Verapaneni’ in the original release of this article. It has been updated with that correction made.

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - General Motors dealers will start seeing Chevy Traverses and Buick Enclaves showing up on their lots again. That’s because the Delta Township plant has a new supply of microchips.

GM officials told News 10 the thousands of cars that were waiting for chips are now being completed and being sent to dealerships. But, while the plant is back to work, it’s not back to where they were before the shortage.

Satya Veerapaneni is the Executive Director for GM’s Delta Township Plant.

“The supply condition is extremely dynamic, and the conditions are fluid. I think the whole industry is going to take time to stabilize,” Veerapaneni.

GM staff say they always have to prepare for tomorrow, since nothing is guaranteed as the chip shortage plays out.

Jeff Kosloski is a Shop Chairperson and a fourth-generation GM employee. He says he’s never seen a shortage like this before, but he has seen how seemingly small problems affect the automakers.

“It’s never consistent, it’s cynical with the economy,” Kosloski said, “We’ve seen usually auto industry and trades work seems to be affected sooner when the economy’s not doing well.”

Cars that once filled MSU parking lots waiting for chips are now being delivered to dealerships. Shaheen Chevrolet in Lansing confirmed it’s going to be getting some. GM did not specify which dealers are being prioritized, saying only that it’s trying to spread out its supply of chips where they’re most needed.

Veerapaneni said, “We have a global purchasing team working with engineering, looking at the different product lines. Allocate the required chips to the facilities so we can bring one facility at a time, and based on that allocation we have received the chips we need to produce and ship our product.”

GM isn’t saying how many microchips it has or where they came from. It will only say it doesn’t anticipate another shutdown. Experts believe the global chip shortage is going to last deep into next year.

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