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Is the Grand Rapids Economy dependant upon GM & Ford?


monsoon

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Grand Rapids focus is mainly suppliers, It may take a small hit, but not nearly what the eastern side of the state will do. Not to mention, alot of the suppliers here are non-union and can keep there costs low.

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I've been watching the news about GM's woes and I was wondering how much the Grand Rapid's economy would be affected by the layoffs and buyouts. It would seem the Detroit area is going to take quite a hit.

There are two Delphi plants in the area, as well as a GM Stamping plant. Other than that, I would guess that somewhere near 25% of the manufacturing is automotive related, which mfg comprises about 27% of our economy (too high if you ask me and the experts). Here's a list of the largest employers:

Spectrum Health 14,000

Meijer (retail) 9800

Steelcase (Office furniture) 5400

Johnson Controls (automotive) 5000

Herman Miller (office furniture) 4400

Alticor HQ (Amway) 4000

GR Public Schools

Foremost Insurance 3500

Haworth (office furniture) 3200

Magna Donnelly (automotive) 3000

City of GR 3000

St Mary's Medical 2500

Thanks dbrok :thumbsup:

There was just an article recently how a lot of the suppliers locally are continuing to expand their work with the "New Domestics" so that they don't feel the Big Three pain so much:

http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/inde...9450.xml&coll=6

Obviously, it doesn't help to have GM and Delphi in trouble, but hopefully we are better diversified.

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Dependant - NO!

We are however impacted by their stability. West Michigan as a whole has diversified from the automotive industry for many years and those manufacturers who are involved as contracters to GM and Ford have also been doing work with Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes and the others "imports" for years. Hopefully GM and Ford can pull themselves out of their downward slide and begin developing vehicles people want to buy and at the same time get ahold of the costs that are driving them to being unprofitable within the market segements. They both have a long way to go in both areas. West Michigan should be able to withstand most of the down turn with these two companies, however it may mean lower wages and lost benifits for some employees and retirees.

Ford actually has some decent product in the pipeline and options it could easily bring here from Europe in the near future if it chose.

GM on the other hand should keep the Corvette Z06 and start over with the restof their lineup.

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Actually the suppliers over here are doing great. They are getting tons of business from the high cost Union plants on the East side. Also, they have been getting a fair bit of foreign business as well due once again to the high level of skill and the relatively low cost point.

I would say that GM and Delphi would probably be smart to hang around this area as even here. Break the Unions and there is a large pool of skilled labor that can be had for relatively low prices. Is it Mexico - no, but there are still some benefits to operating a manufacturing plant in the US. Manufacturing would not be growing still if there were not.

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I wouldnt be sad if the entire auto industry left Grand Rapids. And it wouldn't be a big hit in the economy either, since most of the jobs that are automotive are way out in places like Coopersville, Zeeland, and Holland. The closest plant to GR now I think is the one on 36th street.

Holland would feel a big impact if automobile manufacturing took a nicse dive, but GR probably wouldn't.

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