GM Invests In Michigan Plant

General Motors putting $37 million into its Lansing Delta Township plant, to keep its technology current.

The plant recently added production of the Chevy Traverse alongside production of GM's other crossovers, the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave. The investment, among other things, will allow the plant to reduce "manufacturing bottlenecks" that have occurred because of some of the recent changes.

"We've been stressing the system when we put the Chevrolet in, in order to meet the market demand," said Scott Whybrew, who runs General Motors operations in Lansing.

Whybrew telling WWJ Autobeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert that the investment will also help Lansing-Delta Township upgrade its technology. Even though the plant is General Motors newest, the company says there are areas where the technology already needs a makeover.

More than four thousand employees work on three shifts at the plant, and they consider any investment in the facility to be an investment in their future.

"A year ago, we didn't know if we'd exist," said UAW Local 602 President Brian Fredline. "We didn't know if we were going to have jobs. Only 12 months later, here we are at maximum capacity—three shifts, working overtime--and General Motors giving a thirty seven million dollar boost of confidence to our plant, our product and our people. It's phenomenal."

Workers in Lansing have been waiting for word of a new GM investment in the other plant here, Lansing-Grand River, which is now only working one shift. GM's Scott Whybrew says there's good reason to believe that investment will come.

"I expect good things to happen there, too," he said. "We need another shift, quite honestly, and we need another product there."

General Motors has said that as its products gain traction in the marketplace, and its profits improve, it will reinvest in its facilities.