Historic Auto Plant shuts down

[HEMI]

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20101224/CARNEWS/101229939

[ls7gto]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

some very good replies on that post. Seems like there is plenty of blame to go around.

Thanks for posting.

[Barry Donovan]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

some very good replies on that post. Seems like there is plenty of blame to go around.

Thanks for posting.

yes there is..

there is even perfectly retired, after a life of bay boomed launched perfection, still complaining. :

I have a relative in the realm, going for extincton...
ambivelant stuff...err stuffed without effort I should say. ???

[Huskinhano]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

some very good replies on that post. Seems like there is plenty of blame to go around.

Thanks for posting.

X2 Every one is to blame in the old system. I'm an electrician for a school district consisting of 7 school totaling about 1,000,000 sq ft. I basically do what ever I can to save the district money no matter what kind of repairs. This past summer, my boss hired his wife's cousin to help me with some very large projects this past summer. He was a IBEW member on furlough. He flat out was a better electrician then me but what a royal PIA to work with. Every thing was a problem, type of materials we used, tools we used, working conditions ect. He had visions of grandeur. It was very tough working with him. He also complained about the IBEW. He just wasn't flexible period.

On the flip side, my previous job was at the Hertz rent a car World headquarters for 18 years. When Ford sold it to private equity group, what a pompous bunch of A holes who collected fees for just about everything during the sale and paid themselves handsomely. They fired all the workers who had been there for years and hiring kids right out of college and ran ran the place like a day care center. They installed video games, volley ball and basket ball courts and even had basket weaving contests just to keep these kids mind off of just how badly they were being paid.

There has to be balance all the way around. Sure the workers deserve decent pay but they have to be willing to be flexible in their work. Management needs to be taken down a few notches from their golden palaces and golden parachutes as well. I've had my own business for a couple of years and I work for my employers as I would expect some one to work for me. It's been successfull, I've never been laid off and have had my most secure jobs in the worst of times

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

my guess is the 'new ' gm will do like everybody else and outsource transmissions now

[DanStokes]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

That's a heartbreaker. I lived just a couple of miles from there for years (as does Milner) and it was THE hot job for a lot of folks without degrees. The aerial pic does not do justice to the size of this facility - it's HUGE and when Ford built it it was, IIRC, the worlds largest assembly facility under one roof.

The history of the place is amazing. A whole culture built up around it as Ford had to go to the hills and hollers of Appalachia to find enough folks to make the planes there. A made-for-TV movie called "The Doll Maker" was shot about the place and details some of the history. There are still remnants of the movie theater/bomb shelter and a few other wartime leftovers but they're fading fast.

The attached airport is the home of Kalitta Flying Service (yep, THAT Kalitta) and the Yankee Air Force and is owned by the University of Michigan. It was also the home of the first EPA Emissions lab - I started just after they moved into the current lab building in January of 1972.

So it breaks my heart to see this era come to an end. Maybe someone else can make use of it.

Dan

[ls7gto]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

Hmmmm, bangshift northcentral hq.? should be enuff space their for all 7000 of us to have our own bay!

[DanStokes]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

I like the way you think, Doug! BTW - I hope you and yours are having a GREAT holiday.

Dan

[dieselgeek]

Re: Historic Auto Plant shuts down

That sucks.


I was just watching Netflix this weekend, and saw a History Channel show on "WW2 Aircraft" and they had a TON of great footage from the Willow Run plant.

It actually was a huge pain in the ass and took a lot longer to bring online than originally planned, but as the war escalated to be "more than expected" - the willow run plant apparently was able to exceed production expectations and ended up being a huge factor in air bombing campaigns.