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| GM pours $332 million into plant |
| 06/05/06 |
| General Motors said Thursday it will invest $332 million to upgrade its Warren Transmission plant, further securing work for the 1,200 people mostly members of UAW Local 909 who work at the plant... |
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GM pours $332 million into plant
Investment secures jobs at Warren transmission facility. By Dan Heaton Macomb Daily Business Editor
General Motors said Thursday it will invest $332 million to upgrade its Warren Transmission plant, further securing work for the 1,200 people mostly members of UAW Local 909 who work at the plant.
Coupled with an upgrade made at the plant over the past two and a half years, GM will have spent about $663 million just in this decade to retool the plant for the automakers new six-speed transmission.
The investment in the Warren plant is part of a total of $1.7 billion the company will have spent between 2003 and 2010 to allow it to build up to 3 million units of the transmission system by 2010.
"Raising the bar on the execution of new products is a critical part of our turnaround plan, and the broad application of six-speed transmissions plays a key role in GMs strategy to be a leader in offering a range of fuel-efficient, fun-to-drive vehicles," said GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, said during a Thursday morning news conference at the plant, where the investment plan was formally announced.
According to GM and the UAW union, Local 909 played a key role in securing the new work for their plant, in part by agreeing to new work rules and procedures at the plant. Under the agreement, union workers will work together in four- or six-person teams, rather than follow strict job description guidelines. Union production workers will also interact with transmission engineers to provide input on the transmissions.
"We're not holding General Motors back with our labor agreements," said Richard Shoemaker, a UAW vice president and head of the union's General Motors unit. "Instead of being the problem, it's clear to me we've been a big part of the solution."
"Our strong partnership with the UAW and Local 909 resulted in an innovative work agreement that helped usher in an era of competitively produced, worldclass six-speed transmissions," said Carolyn Watts, plant manager. "The teamwork at the plant is great and we're on schedule."
The plant, which first opened in 1941, will build the Hydra-Matic 6T70 and 6T75 front-wheel-drive six-speed transmissions.
Also part of the package for GM in deciding to put the new transmission work into the Warren plant were state and local incentives. Earlier this year, the city of Warren approved a $21 million tax abatement over 12 years for the plant and the state approved a $4.9 million tax abatement for the project.
"GM is the big fish that swims and we're all part of the food chain, so we better get in line and do what it takes to get food," Warren Mayor Mark Steenbergh said Thursday morning.
The new front-wheel-drive sixspeeds to be built at the Warren plant will be used in the new 2007 Saturn Aura, the 2007 Pontiac G6 and in GM's upcoming family of new crossover vehicles - the Saturn Outlook, the GMC Acadia and the Buick Enclave.
In 2003, GM announced its first investment at the Warren Transmission plant to upgrade to build the six-speed transmissions. The company is placing a lot of emphasis on the transmission, which it says represents a 4 percent gain in fuel economy over its current fourspeed automatics, while also offering up to a 7 percent improvement in vehicle performance.
'That's good for the environment and an all-around win for our customers," Wagoner said.
This latest investment will include additional facility renovations, new machinery, equipment and tooling to support the new processes. Construction is set to begin this summer and be completed in early 2008.
Earlier this week, GM announced a similar, $170 million investment in its Ypsilanti Powertrain plant, also to accommodate work on the six-speed transmission.
"It is rewarding to see our strategy for encouraging further automotive investments in the state bearing fruit," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. "This expansion secures the jobs of hundreds of Michigan workers and continues to support our automotive technology leadership in a global market."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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~ author: Macomb Daily |
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