GM will invest USD200m to expand its Global Powertrain Engineering Headquarters in Pontiac, Michigan (US), reports The Detroit News. The automaker will build a 138,000 sq ft wing, adding about 400 jobs at the facility. Construction at the plant will start in February and complete in the second half of 2014.
GM is consolidating four sites which include facilities in Warren, Michigan; Wixom and Castleton, both in Indiana (US); and Torrance, California (US). The company's propulsion systems research lab at the Warren Tech Center in Michigan, which employs 88 people, will be relocated to Pontiac in the second half of 2015. GM will end the leases at the three facilities. The Performance Build Center in Wixom, which manufactures engines for the Chevrolet Corvette, will be relocated to GM's Bowling Green Assembly Plant, Kentucky (US) early 2014. GM will make an investment of USD3.5m in the Bowling Green plant to accommodate the addition which will help create or retain 20 jobs at the plant. GM’s electric motor engineering and performance engineering, currently done at Wixom, will transfer to Pontiac by mid-2015. Many of Wixom’s 28 jobs will be transferred to Bowling Green Assembly Plant, Kentucky. GM’s Advanced Technology Center in Torrance, California (US) conducts electric motor and power electronics engineering which will be shifted to Pontiac at the end of 2014.
Significance: The investment is a part of GM’s USD1.5bn planned investment in North America this year. Sam Winegarden, Vice-President, Global Engine Engineering at GM, said, “This will allow us to work more efficiently and effectively and help us to bring our products to market faster.” Winegarden said that these moves are not expected to reduce costs but will help engineers work closely. GM has been consolidating its R&D operations since last year. In 2012, the automaker announced that it would close its fuel-cell development office in Honeoye Falls, New York (US) and move the operations to Pontiac at its Global Powertrain Engineering Headquarters by mid-2013. The 400 new jobs now announced to be added to the 3,500 already there in Pontiac will include transfer of some of the 220 jobs from Honeoye Falls. The city of Pontiac in turn had approved tax abatement for GM for expansion in August last year for creation of 30 new jobs. GM’s investment in Pontiac is part of a planned USD300m investment in Michigan. Another project in the state under this investment is construction of an information technology innovation centre at its Warren Tech Center where 1,500 workers are expected to be hired within four years. GM has not yet given any details about the third project.
