General Motors' Ypsilanti Plant to Eliminate 500 Jobs

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Researched by Industrial Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--General Motors' (Detroit, Michigan) Willow Run powertrain plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, will close its doors by December 2010. An estimated 500 jobs will be affected.

The 5-million-square-foot facility, the equivalent of 110 football fields, is one of 11 assembly, powertrain and stamping plants that will close. Three other plants will be idled to trim production and labor costs.

The Willow Run site has major historical significance. During World War II, B-24 liberator bombers were manufactured and assembled at the facility. General Motors purchased the plant in 1953.

The Willow Run plant has three transmission lines. The United Auto Workers Union (Detroit) was hopeful that General Motors would still need the plant to produce the more fuel-efficient, rear-wheel-drive six-speed transmission. However, General Motors officials, announced that the six-speed transmission line will stop production immediately. Other areas of the plant will be shut down in stages throughout December.

Production will consolidate to the Toledo plant, which produces the same type of transmissions as Willow Run.

The move wasn't made to save money or increase quality, according to Don Skidmore, president of United Auto Workers Local 734. Skidmore said that the cost to produce transmissions at the Toledo plant is $145 more per unit than the Willow Run Plant, according to General Motor's financial department data, which was obtained by the union.

The records show Willow Run has the capacity to make 3,000 transmissions per day, which is double the capacity of the Toledo plant. The question remains: Why would a bankrupted company make these kinds of decisions. An estimated 500 employees are effected and will be out of work by the end of 2010 due to this decision.

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