GM to Build New Stamping Facility in Wentzville, Missouri

05/06/96

Reuters reported that General Motors will build a $100 million stamping facility onto its full-size van assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri. The new facility will house two mostly automated three-story Japanese sheet metal presses and will produce parts for the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana, the company's first new full-size vans in almost 25 years. The million dollar investment in equipment will create only 50 new jobs at the Wentzville plant, a 2 percent increase over the 2400 already employed there. Workers at the plant are represented by the UAW.

GM started producing the Express and Savana vans in December, 1995, and the stampings used to make them are currently shipped to Wentzville from Flint, Michigan. The new on-site stamping facility is part of GM's ongoing effort to cut operating costs. On-site stamping cuts transportation and inventory costs and raises quality by preventing damage during shipment. The new facility will become the latest in a series of recently constructed on-site stamping facilities in places like Doraville, Georgia; Springhill, Tennessee; Oshawa, Ontario; and Fairfax, Kansas. Construction on the addition at Wentzville will commence in the fall and the facility is slated to start stamping out sheet metal parts in October, 1997.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel