Word: gm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have made bids to be host to a project that will provide 6,000 jobs at the plant and a shot of instant prosperity to the surrounding region. The choice of a site was originally expected to be made in April, but the suspense has dragged on maddeningly as GM considered more than 100 locations. Last week the company cleared away the last obstacle to a decision when it reached an agreement with the United Auto Workers on an innovative labor contract for the Saturn plant's employees. As a result, GM will announce this week the location of what...
...site is not as out of the way as it sounds. It is only about 30 miles from Smyrna, where Nissan builds cars and trucks, and some 30 miles from La Vergne, where Bridgestone makes tires. The success that these two Japanese companies have had in Tennessee reportedly impressed GM, as did the state's abundant electricity, favorable tax structure and productive labor force. Despite its fame as the home of Grand Ole Opry and Jack Daniel's whisky, Tennessee has quietly become a thriving business center; 100 corporations, including Federal Express and Magic Chef, have their headquarters...
...GM has searched long and hard for the right location because the Saturn project is not just another auto plant. It represents the company's best and perhaps last chance to beat back the Japanese challenge. Though wholly owned by GM, the factory will be the centerpiece of an entirely new company called Saturn Corp., which will have its own executives and engineers and a separate network of dealers. GM's plan is to give its new offspring the freedom to use advanced technology and flexible labor practices to erase the $2,000-per-car cost advantage that the Japanese...
...past, Detroit's efforts to cut costs have usually run up against poor management policies and rigid union work rules and job classifications that limit productivity. So in 1983, long before the Saturn project was unveiled, GM invited the U.A.W. to help devise a better way to build cars. A study group of 65 representatives from the union side and 34 from management began a series of brainstorming sessions that included field trips to Japan, West Germany and Sweden...
...which the best jobs go to workers with the longest service. Kelly pointed out that while job security would be guaranteed for 80% of Saturn's workers, the remaining 20% could still be laid off. The 25-member U.A.W. executive board rejected the plan and began negotiating with GM on revisions...