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Mackie Opens New Arlington Plant

27 July 2000

Mackie Opens New Arlington Plant

    ARLINGTON, Texas - Mackie Automotive Systems today celebrated the official 
opening of Mackie's new 495,000 sq. ft. plant at 3800 Avenue E.

    The new facility replaces two former Mackie facilities with a combined
area of 295,000 sq. ft. that provided parts sequencing and sub assemblies to
the General Motors Corp. Arlington assembly plant.

    "We wanted to get under one roof to accommodate an increased volume of
work at our customer location," said Mackie Plant Manager Bob Elledge.  "We
will be going from 33 jobs an hour at our former facilities up to 50 jobs an
hour when we ramp up to full production in December.  Another measure of our
increased volume is the number of daily truck trailer deliveries, which will
go from 156 to 368."

    Mackie's expansion will add 125 jobs, increasing employment from 400 to
about 525.  Current employees will fully occupy the new facility by Sept. 15,
when Mackie will begin hiring and training new employees.

    Important plant safety and ergonomic features include:

    *  A fully covered and lighted rail dock to handle 28 rail cars per day.

    *  Safety enhanced truck docks where a lighting system will ensure that
trucks do not move while they are being loaded and unloaded.

    *  Natural gas (rather than propane or battery) powered forklifts.

    *  More lift tables and hoists.

    *  Wider aisles.

    *  Tempered air to maintain a 20 degree (cooler) difference between inside
temperatures and outside the temperature.  In typical facilities of this kind,
inside temperatures are 10 degrees warmer than outside temperatures.

    Mackie has been serving GM's Arlington assembly plant since 1997.
Construction of the new facility began in September, 1999.  It is the largest
of 16 Mackie plants operating in North America and Europe.

    Headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, Mackie Automotive Systems is a
leader in providing parts sequencing services and sub assemblies to the
automotive industry.  It employs more than 2,200 people