Choice of Tipton was compromise between Chrysler and Gertag

Sitting on the stage June 18 as the Getrag announcement was made at the Tipton County Courthouse, Brian Harlow couldn't help but smile.

He didn't say a word, but the announcement may have meant more to Harlow than anyone else present. He has spent nearly his entire 29-year career with Chrysler involved in the building of transmissions in Kokomo.

The Harlow name is a familiar one in Tipton County - if you look at the courthouse cornerstone, a Harlow was a commissioner when it was built - and he's a native and resident.

As Chrysler Group's general manager of transmission, casting, machining and axle manufacturing operations, Harlow has spent nearly two years bringing about the Getrag-Chrysler joint venture that will build dual-clutch transmissions at a Tipton County site.

"In August, it will be two years," he said. "The whole idea is to make the entire powertrain more fuel efficient.

"We were looking into doing a dual-clutch transmission. From a pure investment impact, we were looking at others who were involved in designing a dual-clutch transmission to see what was involved. Getrag's name came up with a couple of others.

"Did we look them up? No, it just came about," he said.

Chrysler was already a Getrag Corporate Group customer as the German company builds high-end, heavy-duty manual transmissions for its larger Dodge Ram trucks.

Choosing the site of the plant was difficult because several elements had to be considered.

Harlow and Chrysler officials wanted the new plant built in Howard County.

"We've invested in this area for more than 50 years," he noted. "Our original intent, and that of the [United Auto Workers], was for it to remain near [Indiana Transmission Plant] I and II. There were a lot of further considerations of why it ended in Tipton."

Kokomo, Lafayette and Frankfort were the initial sites proposed, while Grissom Aeroplex entered the running with its state-approved, shovel-ready site. Tipton was the final site to come into consideration. For various reasons, Lafayette and Frankfort were the first removed from the list.

The $530 million investment will be job neutral, according to Chrysler spokesman Dave Elshoff. Employees will come from Kokomo Transmission Plant volunteers as well as Chrysler employees in the Indiana Labor Market (Kokomo, Indianapolis and New Castle) who are in a laid-off/protected employee status.

That factored heavily into the site selection.

"Sometimes, you have to compromise to please everyone," Harlow said. "In particular, the work force is distributed all through central Indiana, with a large number in Indianapolis because of the closing of the foundry, and in New Castle."

Grissom was taken out of the mix due to the distance workers from Indianapolis would have to travel.

While Chrysler and the UAW continued to push for Kokomo, Getrag had its own reasons not to locate in the City of Firsts. This transmission manufacturing plant will be its largest facility in the United States - and second only to a manufacturing plant in Cologne, Germany.

Because of that, Getrag officials didn't want it to share the spotlight with another facility. In Kokomo, it would be in the shadows of ITP I and II, Harlow noted.

"Getrag wanted its own identity; that's understandable. Its druthers were to be away from the existing plants," Harlow noted. "We had our druthers: We wanted it to be as close as possible to the four plants.

"We compromised. Getrag, Chrysler and the UAW agreed and it is near where the work force is. That's not to take anything away from what Tipton or the state did to support that site."

The ability of the existing work force was one of the company's biggest reasons for staying close to Kokomo, Harlow noted.

"The Kokomo work force is very capable. We have accomplished a lot here in Kokomo," he said. "We've invested a lot in training and the productivity has improved. Once again, this year, KTP received the Harbour Associates award as the top automatic transmission with the 42RLE."

The selection process for hourly employees will start at the end of the year, Harlow said.

"We're not too far from the initial stages. There are some things still to be worked out, but we continue to work as we always have with [UAW Local] 685," he explained. "From an engineering standpoint, it's already in progress."

One thing that sold Getrag on locating its manufacturing facility near Kokomo was the fact that members of Local 685 are already familiar with team-based manufacturing.

Local 685 represents workers at KTP and ITP I and II. It will also represent the approximately 1,050 hourly workers at the new plant that plans to begin production in June or July 2009.

"We, as a manufacturing organization, use a team-based process that supports the operator," Harlow said. "When we launched ITP II [in 2003], it brought a totally different atmosphere to the plant.

"The key for Getrag was getting that type of culture because it is a team-based manufacturer also."

Once the dual-clutch transmissions are installed on the 2010 vehicle lineup, Harlow believes it's likely customers won't notice the difference between it and a regular automatic.

"It will function just like an automatic: You put it in drive and go," he said. "Customers will be comfortable with the ease of how it drives and what they gain with the fuel economy."

Preliminary testing indicates the dual-clutch transmissions alone will improve fuel efficiency by 6 percent, according to Frank Klegon, Chrysler's executive vice president for product development.

"The fuel economy is the part, at the end of day, that will make the difference with the axles, engines and transmissions we're going after," Harlow said. "The percentage of savings on the axle is small, but coupled with everything else and the legislation we're facing in Congress, then it all adds up."

The Getrag transmissions will go into nearly any vehicle with front-wheel drive.

"It's going to be the minivans, the Sebring level vehicles and the Caliber. It's going to go in across the board on passenger cars and minivans," Harlow noted.