Ford, GM Gradually Re-Tuning Michigan Manufacturing
By Michelle Krebs May 25, 2010It may not be an all-new model just yet, but Detroit's two healthiest automakers are getting 
underway with a facelift for their decimated manufacturing operations in Michigan.
The two automakers have husked their home-state manufacturing of thousands of jobs during the past several years' reorganizations and downsizing. Many of those jobs may never return, but the two companies are beginning to make good on the promise of new-age manufacturing to replace at least some of the old.
Ford announced Monday it is investing $135 million in new Detroit-area operations to assemble lithium-ion battery packs and hybrid transaxles for its next-generation compact and midsize hybrid-electric vehicles coming in 2012. The company says 220 new jobs will be created.
The move amounts to a rare example of "in-sourcing" that may become common as Detroit automakers strive to be more self-reliant for electric-propulsion development and parts-sourcing. In the case of Ford's new investment, the assembly of battery packs will be shifted to the company's Rawsonville, Mich., plant from its present site in Mexico. Ford's current hybrid transaxles are sourced in Japan, but its new units will be produced at the Van Dyke transmission plant in Detroit.
"I am proud of the tremendous success of the United Auto Workers and Ford in working together to keep good manufacturing jobs in the U.S.," said Bob King, UAW vice president, National Ford Department.
Cross-town rival General Motors Co. also is underway with several initiatives to install electric- 
drive manufacturing and development in Michigan. It is investing $43 million in Brownstown Township, Mich., for an all-new plant to assemble lithium-ion battery packs for its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. The site begins production in the fourth quarter and eventually will produce batteries for other future EREVs. GM said the work calls for 100 new jobs.
In April, GM said it will double the size of its Global Battery Systems Lab in Warren, Mich., to optimize the work of what GM calls a growing team of more than 1,000 engineers developing advanced batteries and electric-propulsion technology.
The company also recently teamed with the University of Michigan for a battery lab located on the college's campus and an advanced curriculum in the U of M's College of Engineering to create engineers specializing in automotive battery engineering. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
Photos by Ford and GM
1 - Ford's battery-powered Transit Connect commercial van launches next year in North America, followed by an all-electric Focus compact car.
2 - Assembling lithium-ion batteries at GM's new Brownstown Township facility.
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