New GM Arlington manager relishes the challenges ahead - Dallas Morning News
Just three months after Juan Carlos Jimenez became manager of the General Motors plant in Arlington, he needed the maxed-out factory to somehow build an extra 1,800 SUVs. For the last two years, the hardworking assembly plant has cranked out full-size SUVs around the clock, putting in overtime shifts and working two Saturdays a month. So Jimenez and his managers put together an aggressive plan to make up the lost production, including rare voluntary overtime on a Sunday. “Our workforce knew the product was required, was needed and they stepped up,” said Jimenez, who goes by J. C. One of his primary goals will be trying to keep the plant’s workers reasonably happy and not any more overburdened than necessary. “The union representatives and I are trying to find ways to get our workers more time off,” he said. Some skilled-trades workers — the electricians, plumbers and others who keep the plant running — put in seven-day weeks, said Johnny Pruitte, president of United Auto Workers Local 276. “When you’re running a six-day production schedule, it’s... The union is talking with management about hiring temporary workers to step in so full-time employees can at least take vacations when they are scheduled, Pruitte said. Source: www.dallasnews.com
