"We've adjusted the construction schedule to be more commiserate with product planning," spokeswoman Reneé Rashid-Merem tells GlobeSt.com. "Based on the different types of vehicles selected for manufacture there, we've found we have more time than anticipated."
This is the second major production facility launched in theLansing area this year. It will be the second totally new vehicle assembly operation built by GM in the US since the Saturn plant was built in 1986. The first was theLansing Grand River assembly plant, which was announced in January and isnow under construction in the city of Lansing.
In addition to the assembly operation at the Lansing Grand River plant, a new 500,000-sf contiguous metal center will be built to provide most of the major sheet metal to the adjacent assembly operations. It will also serve as a regional stamping plant with about 50% of its capacity being shipped to other North American assembly plants. The newest facility will be a state-of-the-art, highly flexible and people-focused advanced production complex located on a 1,300-acre campus to be built in Delta Township, west of I-69 and North of Davis Highway.
The state of Michigan, city of Lansing and Delta Township governments will provide GM with the required infrastructure for the new site, as well as various tax incentives and training support.
Production operations were to start as early as 2002. However, that has been changed. "To better manage our resources, we're adjusting our schedule," said Rashid-Merem. She said designs for the plant are changing, necessitating a delay.
The new complex will be devoted to new products not currently produced in the Lansing region. Rashid-Merem would not elaborate on what sort of product it is. The plant is still scheduled to be operational by 2004, she said.
Once fully operational, the complex will employ approximately 2,800 people. It will consist of a three-building, 2.2-million-sf manufacturing vehicle assembly center -- body shop, paint shop and general assembly facility; a 500,000-sf regional metal fabricating division metal center; and a central utilities complex to serve the site.
Manufacturing operations at the new Delta Township campus will occupy aboutone-third of the site, since allowances are being made for an extensive 300-foot greenbelt to buffer the plant from the surrounding community.
The Lansing Grand River plant will build the next generation Cadillac Catera and other luxury vehicles. The plant will consist of three separate buildings -- a body shop, paint shop and general assembly -- designed around lean manufacturing processes.
GM is investing about $558 million in the project, including buildings and equipment. Production is targeted to begin in the fourth quarter of 2001, and the plant is projected to employ 1,500 people by its third year of operation.
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