Gm Plant

A mazing what a difference a sensible law can make. Two years ago, Congress and President George W. Bush agreed to reduce pollution and America's addiction to overseas oil by requiring automobiles to get better mileage. Now, General Motors is spending $246 million to expand its White Marsh plant and make its own electric motors, giving Baltimore a ride on the auto-technology pace car. Barring an unlikely decision to resurrect GM's auto-assembly plant here , it's hard to imagine better news for regional manufacturing.

Workers peered through safety goggles as they fitted together parts of the electric motors they were building on a General Motors assembly line in White Marsh. For now, the parts are made in a factory in Mexico and then shipped to Baltimore County for assembly. But not for long. By the end of the year, motors for cutting-edge electric vehicles will be built from scratch in a sprawling $244 million plant under construction next to GM's factory, now called General Motors Baltimore Operations.

General Motors Corp. announced Wednesday that it will continue to upgrade its Baltimore transmission plant, investing $23.5 million as it positions the facility to become a core part of its electric car business. The money is in addition to $246 million the company announced in January to equip the plant in White Marsh to build electric motors beginning in 2013. Plans are to build a 40,000-square-foot facility next to the site where workers now build transmissions, including some that go into hybrid vehicles.

General Motors Corp. announced Wednesday that it will continue to upgrade its Baltimore transmission plant, investing $23.5 million as it positions the facility to become a core part of its electric car business. The money is in addition to $246 million the company announced in January to equip the plant in White Marsh to build electric motors beginning in 2013. Plans are to build a 40,000-square-foot facility next to the site where workers now build transmissions, including some that go into hybrid vehicles.

The sluggish economy has finally caught up with the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari minivans made in Baltimore.The local General Motors Corp. assembly plant notified its workers yesterday that the Broening Highway plant would close for at least a week beginning Nov. 2 because of sluggish sales."

The local General Motors minivan plant is scheduled to resume production tomorrow morning, which will make it one of the last factories to recall its workers after a crippling strike in Lordstown, Ohio.Yesterday afternoon, the local plant began notifying about 2,800 workers to report to work with the start of the first shift at 6 tomorrow. Those workers were laid off Aug. 31 after a shortage of parts caused a halt in production at the Baltimore plant.Terry Youngerman, a spokesman for the local plant, said about 75 to 100 skilled workers would return to work later tonight to prepare the factory for an early-morning start-up.

The General Motors Corp. assembly plant in Baltimore is expected to close tonight, idling more than 3,200 employees and causing disruptions and probable layoffs at dozens of smaller companies that serve the plant.The company has advised local suppliers that it anticipates halting production at the Broening Highway plant sometime during the second shift -- probably between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. -- because of a shortage of parts unless a strike against GM's Inland Fisher Guide plant in Anderson, Ind., is settled.

The strike by 3,200 workers at the General Motors Corp.'s Southeast Baltimore minivan assembly plant moved into its second week yesterday with the union reporting only slight progress in talks.Rodney A. Trump, president of Local 239 of the United Auto Workers union, said there was "minuscule progress" at yesterday's short meeting of the union's and company's main negotiating teams."I'd call it a baby step [toward settlement]," he added.It was the second consecutive day in which the union reported progress toward settlement.

The local General Motors minivan plant is scheduled to resume production tomorrow morning, which will make it one of the last factories to recall its workers after a crippling strike in Lordstown, Ohio.Yesterday afternoon, the local plant began notifying about 2,800 workers to report to work with the start of the first shift at 6 tomorrow. Those workers were laid off Aug. 31 after a shortage of parts caused a halt in production at the Baltimore plant.Terry Youngerman, a spokesman for the local plant, said about 75 to 100 skilled workers would return to work later tonight to prepare the factory for an early-morning start-up.

The elimination of the second shift at General Motors Corp.'s Baltimore plant in July has suppliers and small business owners preparing for a ripple effect. At least two manufacturers that supply a variety of parts -- including seats, frame structures and dashboards -- to the GM plant say they will alter their production schedules and cut jobs. Even small businesses near the Broening Highway plant that are not involved with the assembling of parts for the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari vans say the economic impact from GM's plans will be significant.

A mazing what a difference a sensible law can make. Two years ago, Congress and President George W. Bush agreed to reduce pollution and America's addiction to overseas oil by requiring automobiles to get better mileage. Now, General Motors is spending $246 million to expand its White Marsh plant and make its own electric motors, giving Baltimore a ride on the auto-technology pace car. Barring an unlikely decision to resurrect GM's auto-assembly plant here , it's hard to imagine better news for regional manufacturing.

The General Motors transmission plant in White Marsh was one of several plants chosen by the federal government Wednesday to receive part of $2.4 billion in stimulus grants to be used to develop batteries and other parts for electric cars. The plant, along with a GM plant in Wixom, Mich., will share in $105 million to develop a rear-wheel-drive electric system. The grants, which will fund 48 projects, come from the $800 billion economic stimulus bill Congress passed earlier this year to help create jobs and move the country out of the recession.

For eight weeks the hulking General Motors White Marsh Powertrain Plant has sat idle, empty and eerily quiet, with no one in sight but a security team making sure the premises were safe. But Tuesday the plant came back to life as 200 hourly and 40 salaried employees streamed back to work for the 6 a.m. shift. After a short employee meeting, the machines were revved up and the first transmissions in months began rolling through the assembly line. The plant had been shut down since May 8, the longest ever for the plant, which opened in 2000.

They were still buying General Motors shares on Thursday, as if the company deserved its space in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. GM stock dipped 3 cents to $1.12 on Thursday after rising more than a dime earlier. If this column were owned by the financial wires, it would assign glib and dubious causes to GM's blip. Europe eyes new GM bailouts! A few creditors agreed to a revised restructuring plan! There are no reasons to buy GM stock, however, except nostalgia and the cool picture of cars and smokestacks on the certificate.

Increased demand for some General Motors trucks has helped General Motors' Powertrain Baltimore Transmission Plant avert a weeklong shutdown that was to have started Monday, a local spokesman for the plant said yesterday. The spokesman, John Raut, had said last month that the plant was planning to shut down and temporarily lay off all of its hourly workers for the week. The plant employs 238 people. But demand for some company vehicles has improved, including the Chevy Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks, for which the Baltimore plant makes six-speed automatic transmissions, Raut said yesterday.

The General Motors Powertrain Baltimore Transmission Plant will likely have to shut down for a week next month unless demand for the company's vehicles improves. A spokesman for the plant said yesterday it is planning to close shop and temporarily lay off all 239 of it hourly workers for a week beginning Feb. 23. Seventy-nine employees have been laid off since last year because of a slowdown in production at the plant. It is temporarily closing because demand for GM vehicles is expected to remain weak as economic turmoil continues to hurt auto sales.

WASHINGTON -- Although General Motors says its Baltimore plant is not in imminent danger of being closed, Maryland lawmakers are asking Gov. William Donald Schaefer to form a task force to deal with issues affecting the plant's future.The letter requesting the task force was drafted yesterday by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., and also signed by Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, D-Md., and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-3rd, whose district includes the plant.Schaefer aide Mark L. Wasserman termed the task force request "sensible," adding that it "probably represents the best way to ensure that Maryland is as competitive as possible."

General Motors Corp. closed its van assembly plant in Baltimore yesterday and said it will remain shut until Tuesday because of slow vehicle sales.The shutdown, the second this year and the third in eight months, idled 3,100 workers at the city's largest manufacturing employer and forced layoffs or other production adjustments at area companies producing parts for the GM vans.Kerry Christopher, a spokesman for GM's Truck Group in Pontiac, Mich., which has jurisdiction over the Baltimore plant, said the closing was done to "adjust inventory," an industry term that refers to declining sales.

General Motors Corp. said yesterday that it will temporarily close 20 factories across North America and sharply reduce its vehicle production as it tries to adjust to weaker automobile demand. GM said it will cut 250,000 vehicles from its production schedule for the first quarter of 2009, including the cut of 60,000 vehicles announced last week. Normal production would be about 750,000 cars and trucks for the quarter, spokesman Tony Sapienza said. Many plants will be shut down for the whole month of January, he said, and all told, the factories will be closed for 30 percent of the quarter.

The General Motors Powertrain Baltimore Transmission Plant, shut down since April because of a strike at a GM parts supplier, will start ramping up production July 14 when it brings back 100 to 105 day-shift workers. The White Marsh plant was one of about 30 GM factories idled by a walkout at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., resulting in thousands of layoffs. Workers at American Axle approved a contract May 22, ending the nearly three-month strike. About 280 White Marsh workers were laid off during the strike.