Indian UV major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which has its presence in the North American market through its entity Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA), is gearing up to get it Roxor assembly line humming again.
According to a news report from a Detroit-based news channel, the company is doing pre-runs to resume operations starting Monday, May 18.
MANA will see work resume at its Auburn Hills (Michigan) plant with 120 employees initially returning to work to restart production and other operations from next week.
The media report quotes Clarence Bringe, a MANA official, saying that "people were very excited to come back to work. We want to start producing, that is our job. We want to produce," is the consensus among its employees.
The company said that it will enforce new guidelines for everyone to be followed, starting off with a temperature check at the entrance through to administrative employees getting into their respective 'zones' inside the building and staying there.
People on the assembly line will have to compulsorily wear a face mask and have dividers between them, mentioned the report.
According to another quoted official Matt Pearson, "The rules are easy, communicating them is the hard part."
MANA's Auburn Hills plant didn't come to a grinding halt even after Michigan State passed a 'Stay Home, Stay Safe' order on March 23, as the company pivoted to making PPE kits to aid the health workers at the time of the health crisis. Michigan State is among the ones to report the fourth-highest number of Covid-19-related deaths and is one of the hotspots in America.
However, while the State government is trying to control the situation, it is already witnessing protests from locals regarding lifting of the lock-down and giving relaxations on resuming work.
In a similar situation US electric carmaker Tesla filed a lawsuit after local officials refused to allow California plant to resume production. Tesla chief Elon Musk has also threatened to shifting its headquarters out of the city.
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