Tuesday, May 3, 2005

John M. Galloway / Special to The Detroit News Janene Emswiller of White Lake Township, in a jobs bank since February, says moving to the Orion plant "saves my job."

GM to hire 900 at Orion plant

Ailing automaker will recall laid-off workers to build new Pontiac G6 models.

By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News

GM / Pontiac GM will build the G6 convertible in Orion Township. It features a unique four-panel retractable glass roof. About the plant Product: Pontiac G6 Employees: 2,078 Salaried employees: 179 Year opened: 1983 Plant size: 4 million square feet Error processing SSI file Error processing SSI file Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

General Motors Corp. will begin adding 900 jobs at its Orion Assembly plant this month to staff a second production shift and boost output of the Pontiac G6.

The hiring plans represent about 100 more jobs than GM initially anticipated it would need for the new shift as it prepares to build convertible and coupe versions of the G6 at the factory.

GM is counting on the new models to help spark a rebound in U.S. sales and profits, which have dropped sharply this year and prompted the automaker to undertake another round of cost reductions.

Most of the workers hired will be recalled from GM's Pontiac Truck assembly plant. The automaker eliminated a production shift and idled 900 workers at the Pontiac truck plant in January because of lower demand for full-size pickup trucks.

Laid-off workers from GM plants in Lansing and Flint also will be used to staff the second shift at Orion.

GM said waves of 200 workers will begin arriving at Orion weekly beginning May 16 for training and orientation, with second-shift production set to begin in mid-July. When all 900 workers come aboard, about 3,100 employees will be assigned to the 22-year-old plant.

The hiring represents a small boost to Michigan's economy, where 230,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost over the last six years.

After launching the G6 sedan last fall, Pontiac will introduce the coupe version June 6, followed by a convertible featuring a unique four-panel retractable glass roof.

Pontiac is also adding G6 models equipped with a four-cylinder engine and a high-output 3.9-liter, 240-horsepower V-6, making the need for the second shift imperative, according to plant manager Jamie Hresko.

"We've been on maximum overtime for the last several months," Hresko said. "We just can't do it by running around-the-clock overtime."

Assembler Janene Emswiller is among the laid-off workers reporting to the Orion plant later this month. She was transferred from a Delphi Corp. plant in Anderson, Ind., to Pontiac. But when GM eliminated the second shift in Pontiac in January, the 33-year-old White Lake Township resident found herself idled and assigned to a so-called jobs bank, where she's been since February.

Emswiller is a little nervous about helping to build midsize passenger cars rather than full-size pickup trucks.

"The G6 isn't selling that well," Emswiller said, "but trucks, even if they have slow times, will always sell."

Pontiac marketing executives say the G6 has sold just fine when compared with the vehicle it replaced -- the long-running Grand Am. GM says G6 demand during the first four months of 2005 will rise about 70 percent over comparable Grand Am sales a year ago.

"We expect to be up 70 percent, year over year, January through April, versus the same versions of the Grand Am," Pontiac advertising director Mark-Hans Richer said. "We are currently earning about $5,000 more per car on each of those units compared to the Grand Am after incentives."

The sedan made a raucous national debut last fall when members of talk show host Oprah Winfrey's audience all received a free G6.

The promotion cost GM an estimated $7 million, but the automaker received priceless publicity and news coverage that lasted for weeks.

But in a hitch, the factory was not fully up and running and many would-be G6 buyers were not able to find what had become known as the "Oprah car" in stock at neighborhood dealerships.

After the initial stumble, however, G6 sales have increased each month since its launch -- with the exception of January, when industry sales were down -- from 924 units in September to 9,565 in March. April sales results will be released today.

"It's straight-line growth," Richer said. "It looks like a launch should look like."

The addition of the coupe and convertible body styles, along with the four-cylinder and high-output V-6 engines, makes G6 marketing manager Gary Steilen optimistic the car will finally start to pull in sales numbers reminiscent of the Grand Am.

"These (models) will add volume, incremental volume," Steilen said. "The coupe and convertible are going to bring in people who are buying other brands of coupes and convertibles."

Joe Barker, a product analyst with Farmington Hills consultants CSM Worldwide, said the coupe and convertible will boost demand, but perhaps not as much as the economical, four-cylinder version.

"The four-cylinder model could have more impact because it will allow Pontiac to bring down G6 pricing," Barker said.

Global Insight analyst Rebecca Lindland expects the coupe to be a sales winner, but said the G6 convertible may have limited potential.

"It's such a seasonal car; I'm a little afraid some of them may get stuck in fleets in California, Florida and other vacation locations," Lindland said.

In addition to an expanded G6 lineup, GM is introducing the Hummer H3, Chevrolet HHR, Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS, and Pontiac Solstice and Torrent this year.

But the new or redesigned models may not do much to boost GM's market share in the United States much higher than the 25.6 percent it now controls, Barker said.

"GM will roll out nine new models over the next eight months but don't expect them to translate to market share gains," he said. "It has to do with the poor health of GM's brands and intense competition."

Unless GM's U.S. market share rebounds, analysts speculate the automaker will have to permanently close more assembly plants to match supply with demand.

For the Orion Assembly plant, the future looks nothing but bright as it gets ready to crank out as many as 1,000 Pontiac G6's a day. Once a weak link in GM's manufacturing chain, quality has improved from the days when it produced the Buick Park Avenue and LeSabre, Pontiac Bonneville and Oldsmobile Aurora.

GM invested $300 million to upgrade the plant to build the G6.

"We've worked real hard with our hourly rank and file to make sure we build our cars right, recognizing job security is through performance and execution," said plant manager Hresko.

For Janene Emswiller, Orion may be her second choice, but she knows it is her only chance to continue her career at GM.

Said Emswiller: "It saved my job."

You can reach Ed Garsten at (313) 223-3217 or egarsten@detnews.com.