General Motors execs have pegged the GM Baltimore Transmission plant to produce its next generation electric drive motors for plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles. The automaker will add a high-volume electric drive manufacturing facility to the Baltimore County plant in White Marsh, bringing more than 200 new jobs to the area. The company will also retrain hundreds of workers already employed at the plant.
Over nine years, the $244 million project will generate approximately $90 million in direct wages and salaries and $2.5 million in Baltimore County taxes, according to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.
"This plant expansion shows the economic power of bringing a world-class workforce together with corporate, federal, state and local government resources," says Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.
The GM Baltimore Transmission plant will be the first electric motor manufacturing facility in the U.S. operated by a major automaker. Regular production is scheduled to begin in 2013 for next generation two-mode rear wheel electric drive motors.
Total project investment at the White Marsh plant is $244 million. GM is investing $129 million. The federal government is supporting electric drive systems manufacturing with a previously announced $105 million U.S. Department of Energy grant through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. As investment and job milestones are met, Baltimore County will provide up to $6 million in grants from the Baltimore County Business Growth Fund and a $150,000 Baltimore County Economic Development Training grant. The State of Maryland is providing a $3 million conditional grant through the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund (MEDAF) and a $1.5 million grant from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation Workforce Training Fund.
Opened in December 2000, the GM Baltimore Transmission plant was selected in 2006 to manufacture the first hybrid transmission designed and built in the United States. GM currently employs 224 salaried and hourly workers in the eco-friendly White Marsh facility.
GM made the initial decision in 1999 to locate the plant in White Marsh in part because there has been a major GM van assembly plant in the Baltimore area for generations, meaning there was a large supply of skilled workers in the area, says David Iannucci, director, Baltimore County Department of Economic Development.
"They had an outstanding experience at that time by any measure of which we are aware. It is in General Motors corporate history, the fastest a plant went from a shovel in the ground to a sellable product out the door -- in 17 months. So they had an outstanding experience there. They also had an outstanding experience working with the Community College of Baltimore County to retrain the van assembly workers to make automatic transmissions, a completely different set of manufacturing technologies and techniques," Iannucci explains.
Source: David Iannucci, Baltimore County Department of Economic Development
Writer: Walaika Haskins