Analysts: GM's Ohio plant vulnerable to cuts

GM executives were expected to disclose the moves right before the company's annual shareholders meeting Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. It likely will mean shift cuts or even closures of some factories.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson would not say what moves the company would make.

The Moraine plant employs about 2,500 workers and produces the GMC Envoy, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender.

The plant employed about 4,100 workers until mid-2006, when GM eliminated the third production shift based on slowing sales for SUVs, which have been hurt by higher gasoline prices.

GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner's management team is looking at cuts among the factories that make pickups and SUVs. GM makes full-size pickups in Flint and Pontiac, Mich.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Oshawa, Ontario. Big SUVs are made in Arlington, Texas; Silao, Mexico; and Janesville, Wis.; while mid-sized SUVs are made in Moraine.

The plants at Moraine and Janesville are the most vulnerable, according to some industry analysts.

Greg Gardner, an analyst with the Oliver Wyman Group, said both plants are a distance from parts suppliers. Plants in Texas and Mexico can easily satisfy demand for big SUVs, while GM may stop building mid-size SUVs in a few years, Gardner said.

GM has not announced a new product for Moraine.

Plant spokesman Jessica Peck said she had no information about any possible cuts.