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GM to close stamping plant in Wyoming

francishsu

By francishsu
in Grand Rapids

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wolverine Town

wolverine

Posted
Posted

Oh, how you tease... :)

I was more or less wondering when, not if this would happen. GM is teetering on entering a death spiral, it'll be interesting to see how different things are in 2 years (or six months for that matter).

Joe

Well, I've already gotten myself in trouble on these boards before.

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

Posted
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Ouch!! . The closure of the Phisher Plant pretty much blighted Alpine Ave. south of I-96 and lost the City of Walker a big chunk of its tax revenue. That was a bad situation that still needs to heal. But hearing the GM stamping plant closing is very heart breaking. This area does not need this to happen.

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aowwt Whistle-Stop

aowwt

Posted
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I am scared to death right now. Being in the service industry I need manufactory. 1600 jobs being lost in the city is scary like freddy kugar wanting to meet me in a dark alley. I just dont know what to do right now. I remember the slow down in retail when steelcase cut down factories back in 2000 and boy did it hurt. This was like the last major manufactory in the city. The next council meeting is gonna be interesting.

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

Posted
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Before we start manning the life boats or jumping out of windows over the GM closure, I would like to know what options are out there to replace the job losses and put to use what will perhaps become the largest vacant building in the greater metro area?

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aowwt Whistle-Stop

aowwt

Posted
Posted

Well the problem comes is how much wyoming needs Industry. If anybody did not know Wyoming has the largest Industrial Base in the entire state. I just pray that GM will rethink but if not I do hope the city council does this. Put up an embatement for 5 years for every 500 employees a company will hire for that site. I would love to see this done but who knows.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
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I had a thought on this, and it might be silly, but why don't the state and local economic development agencies help market this building to other potential automakers?

According to an article this weekend, the plant has some of the best German made machinery on the planet for body panel stamping, putting out part quality ratings of 19 PPM's last year. :blink: That's considered world-class quality by any automotive quality standards. Instead of GM piecemealing this plant and selling off the equipment and sending the workers packing, isn't there at least one foreign automaker in the U.S. who would love to get their hands on this plant, its machinery and its workforce as a supplier? It's the dies that are made specifically for particular car makes, not the machinery punching out the panels and parts.

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/business/inde...king_a_mis.html

Aren't Honda, VW and Toyota all in process of building new assembly plants in the U.S.? Those cars will need stamped parts.

GM invested $100 Million in new machinery in this plant in just the last 5 years. Why not sell the place as a package, GM?

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Raildudes dad Hamlet

Raildudes dad

Posted
Posted

I had a thought on this, and it might be silly, but why don't the state and local economic development agencies help market this building to other potential automakers?

According to an article this weekend, the plant has some of the best German made machinery on the planet for body panel stamping, putting out part quality ratings of 19 PPM's last year. :blink: That's considered world-class quality by any automotive quality standards. Instead of GM piecemealing this plant and selling off the equipment and sending the workers packing, isn't there at least one foreign automaker in the U.S. who would love to get their hands on this plant, its machinery and its workforce as a supplier? It's the dies that are made specifically for particular car makes, not the machinery punching out the panels and parts.

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/business/inde...king_a_mis.html

Aren't Honda, VW and Toyota all in process of building new assembly plants in the U.S.? Those cars will need stamped parts.

GM invested $100 Million in new machinery in this plant in just the last 5 years. Why not sell the place as a package, GM?

I have absolutely no insider information, but I think it's very plausible that the plant will be sold intact to another metal stamper or a group that can see the value. The plant is too new (stamping line wise) to get scrapped out.

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

Posted
Posted

It does seem like a good thought. It should be interesting to see if something will happen but I think there are two factors that may make it difficult. 1) It's not just the American auto companies that are hurting, everyone is, and 2) Not a lot of credit out there to make this float.

It'll be interesting to see if they dismantle the plant and sell everything for pennies on the dollar.

Joe

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  • 2 years later...
RegalTDP Burg

RegalTDP

Posted
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The plant will be coming down, maybe starting this summer (MLive)

I am NOT looking forward to the gravel & weed lot that will be replacing it. I mean, I've heard it's not much to look at as it is, but this will be much worse, and in one of the most visible spots in town. I think the future lot is my new nominee for this thread.

Plans are to market the land for re-use:

In a partnership with Wyoming, Lormax Stern Development Co. is buying the 2-million-square-foot plant and tearing it down to make room for industrial re-use of the property that sits along a rail line near U.S. 131. The city plans to take ownership of the site, 300 36th St. SW, perhaps this week.

The Right Place, an economic development agency based in Grand Rapids, is leading efforts to attract one or two advanced-manufacturing firms to the site along with some suppliers. A tax incentive is tied to attracting “living-wage jobs.”

No prospective users have been identified, said Jason Horton, project manager for Lormax Stern.

“This site is one of the most unique sites anywhere in the Midwest,” he said.

Interesting that this article comes up amidst the Lipdub coverage, because getting this site up and running again will be a major challenge. We'll see if this town is as "alive" as we say it is...

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Explorer55 Whistle-Stop

Explorer55

Posted
Posted

The plant will be coming down, maybe starting this summer (MLive)

I am NOT looking forward to the gravel & weed lot that will be replacing it. I mean, I've heard it's not much to look at as it is, but this will be much worse, and in one of the most visible spots in town. I think the future lot is my new nominee for this thread.

Plans are to market the land for re-use:

Interesting that this article comes up amidst the Lipdub coverage, because getting this site up and running again will be a major challenge. We'll see if this town is as "alive" as we say it is...

As a native of GR and a once upon a time resident of Cascade for many years, I don't confuse downtown GR with an industrial area (or any area) of Wyoming. Somehow, attracting an industrial use to Wyoming is different from attracting businesses and residents to GR (the City), although indirectly perhaps the two are connected. I realize more employment in the GR metro area will probably help everyone there, but still, it's a tenuous thread in this case.

While I'm at it, I'm still waiting to see the "Pure Michigan" ad that focuses on GR on TV. I have seen several others (Henry Ford Village, Detroit, lakes/streams, etc.), but no GR. Actually, I think they need to do a "West Coast" of Michigan ad and really show off the beaches, dunes, and Lake Michigan (e.g., show all the people at the beach and in the water at Grand Haven on a warm day with the red lighthouse in the background, show people sliding, rolling, leaping down the dunes at Hoffmaster). The other ads just show glances of those features and most people who haven't been in that part of Michigan have no idea how glorious it all is.

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Khorasaurus1 Whistle-Stop

Khorasaurus1

Posted
Posted

The plant will be coming down, maybe starting this summer (MLive)

I am NOT looking forward to the gravel & weed lot that will be replacing it. I mean, I've heard it's not much to look at as it is, but this will be much worse, and in one of the most visible spots in town. I think the future lot is my new nominee for this thread.

Plans are to market the land for re-use:

Interesting that this article comes up amidst the Lipdub coverage, because getting this site up and running again will be a major challenge. We'll see if this town is as "alive" as we say it is...

It will be a long road towards redeveloping this site, but that has nothing to do with being "alive" or "dead". There are large vacant former industrial parcels in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. They are just very hard to market due to their size, locations near freeways and rail lines (great for manufacturing, annoying for everyone else), and envrionmental hazards.

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