American Axle Starts $28 Million Expansion at Michigan Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated). American Axle & Manufacturing Incorporated (AAM) (NYSE: AXL) (Detroit, Michigan), a tier one supplier of driveline systems, chassis systems and forged products for the automotive industry, has started construction on a $28 million expansion of its Three Rivers, Michigan Plant (Plant 1500653).

Located on One Manufacturing Drive in Saint Joseph County, Construction for the 50,000 square foot expansion started in early December 2003. Site excavation is currently underway with project completion slated for late summer 2004. Plans are to close a Mexican plant and transfer those operations to this location. New equipment is also expected to be installed with 100 new jobs created. This expansion will allow for increased manufacturing capacity.

J S Alberici Construction Company (Saint Louis, Michigan) was awarded the general construction contract for the project.

American Axle & Manufacturing Incorporated, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, is currently the largest employer located in Three Rivers, Michigan and Saint Joseph County. The company has around 7,000 employees in the Detroit metropolitan area and Three Rivers with 1,138 employees actually located at the Three Rivers plant. They have 7 million square feet of combined manufacturing space in the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom with approximately $3 billion in annual sales. American Axle is a world leader in the manufacturing, design and engineering of driveline systems and related components and modules, chassis systems and forged products for trucks, sport utility vehicles and passenger cars. They are currently a supplier for General Motors.

Two years ago the company performed a $76 million expansion (PEC 18001365) with JS Alberici Construction Company as the contractors, which included the addition of new equipment and a rear axle line addition with the creation of 200 new jobs.