GM Supplier Lear Ramps Up Safety Protocols To Restart Production Amid Coronavirus Emergency

FLINT, MI -- Hundreds of Lear Corp. employees in Flint are getting a first-hand preview of what their return to work next week will look like, and part of what they are seeing is a new way of doing business, including hand-sanitizing stations, sneeze guards, social distancing reminders and masks.

A steady stream of workers came back to see the changes in their post-COVID-19 plant on Thursday, May 14, in advance of returning to work for orientation and the restart of a single shift of production next week.

“I think it’s going to be scary to start, but they have done a good job preparing,” said Tee McFadden, a team leader at Lear. “I feel comfortable coming back ... Everybody just has to practice social distancing. I talked to my group. I told them, (come in today and) they can see what they (are going to be) walking into Monday.”

Lear opened its plant in Flint less than two years ago, and the facility looks much as it did when production started.

But the changes can’t be missed -- from continuous reminders on the plant floor and walls for maintaining distance from each other to acrylic glass that separates employees who are closer together.

Employees will be expected to wear company-provided face masks, some of which were manufactured by Lear, and some jobs will require face shields.

In the cafeteria, acrylic glass separates tables and lunch shifts will be staggered to prevent overcrowding. In the restrooms, every other stall, sink and hand-dryer has been blocked off to maintain safe distances. Workers’ temperatures will be taken before they enter the plant, on what was once part of the old Buick City complex, and a quarantine area has been set up for workers who may feel ill while on the job.

The Flint plant is scheduled to return to its regular work, making seats for trucks built at General Motors’ Flint Assembly plant, which is also scheduled to resume production next week.

“We didn’t want the guarding to be imposing but we want to keep everybody safe,” said Plant Manager Tim Reedy. “We wanted this to still feel like home ... We adapted every square inch to practice social distancing.”

Lear officials said they are using best practices from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other company plants that have already returned to production. The coronavirus playbook for employees returning to work is more than 80 pages, but changes are designed to keep the basics of the job as familiar as possible.

“We wanted people to come back and not feel like everything had changed” since the plant stopped production because of the coronavirus emergency on March 20, said Mark Bennett, plant technical manager. “The biggest (change) is going to be wearing masks ... Youre station hasn’t changed, you just have a barrier ... (and) our safety is much, much better.”

Lear is headquartered in Southfield. In addition to supplying GM, the company says it serves every major automaker in the world.

Like other auto suppliers, the company’s operations have been on hold since GM shut down its North American auto production in mid-March.

In addition to Flint Assembly, GM officials have said plants in Saginaw, Bay City and Lansing are among those scheduled to reopen for production after orientation starting next week.

Marcus Robinson, third shift production coach at Lear, said the new way of life at work will be “a little tough.”

“Today was a good day, seeing a lot of my team members ... getting comfortable with it," Robinson said. “At the end, I did say to my team members, if there’s suggestions that you may have or things that we want to do a little different, let’s put it on the table. Let’s gather up like we always do, and come to a better solution.”

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