General Motors seems bent on preparing some of its existing facilities as supporting players for future programs. The company has announced a $46 million investment in the metal stamping operation in Parma, Ohio, a town located about 20 minutes south of Cleveland that has nothing to do with the tasty cheese one puts on their pasta.
The investment will be used for equipment upgrades and other preparations at the facility to support as-yet-unnamed future product programs. Currently, the Parma plant produces sheet metal stampings and assemblies for multiple GM product programs across all four brands – Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC. According to the company, renovations will begin immediately. If only contractors I’ve dealt with in the past were as prompt.
Roughly 1,000 employees work at Parma, with about 85 percent of them classed as hourly and represented by UAW Local 1005. The plant is said to process over 800 tons of steel per day and services or supports the majority of GM vehicles produced in North America. Manufacturing processes include press lines or multiple sizes, high-speed progressive presses, and GMNA’s largest stand-alone laser welding metal assembly operation of its type.
“Our Parma operation is a long-time leader in metal stamping capabilities and this investment reflects our confidence in the employees at Parma,” said Phil Kienle, GM vice president of North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations. “This investment will help the Parma team continue producing high quality, sheet metal stampings for a variety of future GM products.”
While no one at the company is willing to speak about what projects are in the hopper, it’s a safe bet to assume a good portion of the work will involve electric vehicles. After all, Cadillac has made it clear they plan to exist this decade as a purveyor of EVs, and all other GM brands are busying themselves with battery-powered vehicles of different shapes and sizes.
This investment is in addition to the $6 million GM committed to the facility roughly one year ago. That money was part and parcel of a larger effort with the Tonawanda engine plant in New York to help GM ramp up production of the highly profitable Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 pickup trucks. At Parma, the money was spent on new metal assembly cells, a sensible decision since the place is responsible for the majority of steel used in GM’s North American production.
Parma Metal Center has a long history as part of GM’s manufacturing efforts in this country, dating all the way back to 1948.
[Image: GM]
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Note to TTAC.
Having been involved in tooling up 25 plants in my career, I can tell you $45,000,000 is nothing. A drop in a bucket.
In one way, i m glad to see the investment being made in USA manufacturing. But, the UAW is a blood sucking / efficiency draining org. I supervised 50 skilled trades men in my early career at 2 different plants and i can tell you they work about 4 hours a shift and work harder at screwing off than working.
GM alone is going from 500 engine and transmission combinations to 19 when the dust settles on their way leading North America on ICE to EV’s. The old days of massive costs in bringing a single model to market are passed as these will be body on battery/electric motor.
Can you get the Trifecta Tune on them?
Parma is a good plant.
High quality & efficiency in internal reports 25 years ago
@redapple Sir, this is a serious question. Does GM stamp out bodies/body parts at Parma and send them to other plants? I never did QC set-up at a stamping plant. I did most of my QC set-ups at tier-one suppliers along I-70. Also, do other companies do this? I could see GM having huge and expensive stamping machines at one location and shipping bodies/body parts out. They would also have in-depth logistics support for raw steel and replacement stamping machine dies. I always appreciate your insider views and comments.
el scotto
GM has 5-6 stamping plants. They ship the stampings to assy plants. Some of those assy plants are close (Flint Pressed Metal – Flint Pick up truck assy). Parma has to ship all the product some distance. Its nearest Assy plant – i think- is Ft Wayne but that plant has Marion Stamping feeding it close by. Lots of moving parts.
I’m old enough to remember when Parma was building Powerglide transmissions.