Engine plant fires up in Flint

FLINT

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION

Friday, September 22, 2006

By Todd Seibt

tseibt@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6315

FLINT - Gov. Jennifer Granholm and a host of politicians, General Motors executives and UAW officials were expected this morning at GM's Flint Engine South to recognize Flint's newest product - a high-feature V-6 engine that appears to have a very bright future.

Nearly 150 members of UAW Local 659 already have built about 30 of the engines on a separate line in the plant, said Brad Cole, a salaried worker at the plant who has been helping to coordinate the launch.

Flint South, Flint's newest GM plant, also builds the Vortec 4.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine that goes into GM's midsize sport-utility vehicles. But as gas prices have risen, demand for those engines has dropped, which resulted in the layoff of a second shift of production workers who build that engine.

The addition of V-6 production - in a $300-million addition to the Flint plant - is bolstering the number of active workers at the Van Slyke Road factory.

"The approval to ship came (Wednesday)," Cole said, so the plant will officially build and ship production engines Monday to GM's Grand River Assembly Plant in Lansing.

The governor and others were to make remarks during a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. today in the plan. Also expected were Flint Mayor Don Williamson, GM Vice President John Buttermore and UAW Vice President Cal Rapson, among others.

The launch of the engine actually will be a series of rollouts, as they are fitted to different GM vehicles and as different versions of the engine are built.

First up will be the Cadillac CTS. In succeeding months after that, the engine will go into the Cadillac STS and Cadillac SRX. All three of those Cadillacs are built at the Grand River plant.

After those, the engine will be installed in the GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook cross-over utility vehicles to be built at GM's new Delta Township plant near Lansing.

The compact V-6 was designed to be built in 23 different variations. That includes front-, rear- and all-wheel drive, in different displacements. The engine already is built in Ontario and Australia.

Flint South likely will be responsible for supplying North America, GM officials have said.

"It's all new to us," Tom Hensel, 57, of Birch Run said of the work and the assembly line. He was working on one of three production loops for the V-6 on Thursday, installing balance wheels and water pump pulleys at his work station.

Hensel, with 30 years' seniority, has worked at the Fisher Body Coldwater plant, GM's Flint V-8 engine plant, GM's Orion Assembly Plant and GM's Flint Truck Assembly Plant.

At his newest work station, plastic bins on inclined rollers deliver all the parts he needs to do his work. The bins are sequenced, so as more V-6 models and versions are added, all the parts will arrive as a package, instead of Hensel having to pluck different ones from big bins.

Joe Ledford, shop chairman of Local 659 at the plant, said that as the V-6 production ramps up into next year, it likely will require more workers.

"When we get up and rolling next year, we should be at 229 (hourly workers)," he said. But, he noted, market demand will determine exactly how many are needed at the engine plant.

Out on the production floor, as the new engines flowed past, Ledford was optimistic.

"More work for Flint - that's what I'm talking about," Ledford said with a grin.