General Motors (GM) recently announced that it will close its IT Innovation Center in Chandler, Arizona on October 31st.
This decision to shut down the facility came as a surprise to many and caused an uproar from local residents due to the fact that 940 jobs were lost.
GM’s decision has been met with criticism across the country, especially by those who view President Joe Biden’s administration as responsible for these economic hardships.
The closure of the GM IT Innovation Center came as a major shock to local citizens in Chandler, Arizona.
As Micah Miranda, Economic Development Director for the area expressed: “Today’s announcement that GM plans to close its Arizona IT Innovation Center came as a complete surprise.”
Erik Gronseth, one of the few remaining workers who was not laid off shared his thoughts on how they found out about their job losses saying: “There wasn’t too much of any forewarning of what to expect.”
The news sent shockwaves through the local community and brought attention to how this kind of situation can devastate an entire city when jobs are suddenly cut off without warning.
When asked why he thought GM had decided to close its facility in Chandler, Kevin Kelly—a representative from General Motors responded: “We’re rationalizing the number of IT innovation centers we have in the country.”
In other words, rather than cutting costs or downsizing their operation size based purely off finances, GM wanted to streamline operations by closing one center while keeping three others open instead.
This idea is further backed up by Stacy Lynett—the vice president of Information and Digital Technology at General Motors—who stated in an email that cutting ties with one location would help them become more efficient and effective in providing services for their company moving forward.
