General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

On Thursday the automobile giant General Motors is planning to announce a several billion dollar, multiyear investment plan that they will enforce in several United States manufacturing plants as they feel that by doing this they will achieve better vehicle quality and boost production, a person close to GM revealed.

General Motors has scheduled an official press conference at their stamping plant in Pontiac, Michigan, where they plan to make a major United States manufacturing announcement. The largest automaker from the United States should reveal plans to make capital investments in equipment and plants, which includes stamping plants and body shops. Analysts expect this capital investment will create jobs but they are still uncertain of how many, due to the company not revealing details of the investment.

This announcement comes at a time when the United Auto Workers union and General Motors are getting ready to negotiate a new master contract this fall for GM’s hourly workers whose numbers are roughly 50,000. Leaders of UAW have pushed that the automakers from Detroit invest in factories which are union represented. GM has a budget of 9 billion dollars ready for global capital spending this year up by 2 billion as opposed to the last year’s 7 billion dollars. With this money the company plans to pay for investments in new technology and vehicle launches. In the past the company spent two thirds of its capital outlay in North America and officials claim that it will remain the same this year. The departments that will receive investment have not been named but it is very likely that one of them will be the Pontiac stamp company at which the announcement will be made. This plant in particular stamps metal parts for about 20 different vehicle models. The company has stated that they plan on investing in the Texas plant to fund upgrades; however no decision has been made yet.

Automakers from Detroit are being very cautious of expanding production too quickly in North America, as it could risk undoing gains in the earnings that they have achieved since they made drastic cuts during the financial crisis. Both rival companies and General Motors have instead been looking to increase the output at the already existing plants by using additional shifts, investments to improve efficiency and overtime.