General Motors on Monday said it would spend US$245m and add 300 new jobs at its Orion Township assembly plant in Michigan to support launching a new vehicle programme “unlike any in the plant’s 32-year history”.
The plant currently builds the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano small cars and is slated to get the Bolt EV in 2017.
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Last week it was reported GM would lay off around 100 Orion workers from July to the end of 2015. GM spokesman Christopher Bonelli said at the time the automaker was “adjusting production capacity to better meet market demand”.
“Orion Assembly is a breeding ground for manufacturing innovation,” said Cathy Clegg, GM North America head of manufacturing and labour relations on Monday. “It serves as a model for how to engage the entire workforce at all levels to achieve success. The plant is up to the challenge of building this brand new product, something it’s never seen before.”
Spending at Orion totals $962m since the UAW union and GM worked together to reopen the previously idled plant in 2010.
This latest investment came seven months after the announcement of a $160m spend to launch the Bolt.
Orion encourages employees to offer solutions to problems that positively impact the business. For example, a team of hourly, salaried and skilled trades’ workers from the paint shop recently developed a process monitoring tool for robotic paint applicators that alerts operators to potential failures before they happen. The innovative approach to preventive maintenance is now being applied to other GM manufacturing sites and will help avoid millions in cost annually.
This latest announcement is a part of the $5.4bn GM has said it would spend on US manufacturing over the next three years. Approximately $3.1bn has been identified, leaving $2.3bn to be announced by the end of this year.
