Ontario’s car industry kept a low production profile on Tuesday, juggling shifts at some plants and cautiously adding production at others as it tried to cut demand on the province’s overloaded power system, Reuters reported.
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General Motors of Canada, which had dialled down much of its production on Monday, added a shift at one of its Oshawa, Ontario, plants while further reducing production at another and the company is hoping that supply does not fall too far behind demand in the US car sector, which was operating normally, the report added.
“Certainly there will be some stress in the system with respect to Canadian suppliers feeding the states as they try to manage their power requirements, so there will be some juggling there,” GM Canada spokesman Stew Low told Reuters, adding: “We hope by the end of the week that the situation is back to normal.”
Low also told Reuters it was too early to tell just what kinds of supplier hiccups might occur from the reduced production.
Reuters noted that car makers trimmed their production by about 50% on Monday after the provincial government urged energy conservation in an attempt to return the power system to normal after the worst blackout in North American history.
With temperatures expected to rise this week, increased air conditioner usage is sparking fears of rolling blackouts, forcing automakers to keep their electricity demand at a minimum, the news agency added.
Reuters said Ontario has been sketchy about why the province has lagged neighbouring US states in getting electricity supplies back to normal, but has pointed out that New York state relies on nuclear power for 21% of its electricity, much less than Ontario’s 36% – nuclear plants take longer to get back on line after a shutdown than other kinds of generators.
“We hope to be able to give industry and commerce more capability as we go through this, as we get back to full capacity,” Ontario Premier Ernie Eves told reporters on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Honda has shut down one of its two assembly plants at Alliston, Ontario, during peak hours but extended non-peak shifts while the other plant was operating normally, Reuters said.
DaimlerChryler Canada juggled production at two of its plants, running the midnight shift at its Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant, while shutting down its Ajax trim plant, the report said.
“We’re doing our best to balance our production needs with the 50% reduction in energy usage,” spokeswoman Kerrey Kerr told Reuters, adding there was as yet no negative impact on the automaker’s US operations.
Ford told Reuters it was cautiously ramping up production but still operating at reduced levels, adding some reduced day operations at its Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant, and running extended off-peak shifts.
Reduced production schedules were hitting automotive parts makers as well, Reuters noted. Magna International told the news agency it had cut production shifts both to comply with the lower energy requirements and also to avoid a build-up of parts with vehicle makers at half speed.
