By JOHN DEMPSEY, Kokomo Tribune business writer
TIPTON - Chrysler Group and GETRAG Corporate Group officials will join Gov. Mitch Daniels on Monday to announce plans to build a transmission factory that could eventually employ more than 1,000 people.
According to a press release issued by Chrysler Group Thursday morning, an official announcement regarding the Chrysler-GETRAG joint venture will be made Monday at 3:25 p.m. at the Tipton County Courthouse.
Last month, GETRAG purchased 145 acres of land in Tipton County at the intersection of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28. In April, the German company filed plans with Tipton County to build the 700,000-square-foot factory, which is estimated to cost about $560 million. The factory is estimated to employ about 1,200 people.
The announcement at the Tipton County Courthouse will detail site selection and when the factory will start production, Chrysler spokesman David Elshoff said. He declined to provide more details.
The Chrysler-GETRAG joint venture first came to light Sept. 26 through a memorandum of understanding between Chrysler Group officials and UAW officers over staffing issues.
The memorandum outlined a $560 million facility which would employ approximately 1,200 and have a capacity for 700,000 units a year, with the first job scheduled for the summer of 2009.
But in May, DaimlerChrysler AG announced that it was selling most of its Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management. Daniels met with GETRAG representatives during a trip to Germany and cautioned afterward that the Chrysler-GETRAG deal wasn't done.
Indiana Economic Development Corp. spokesman Mitch Frazier repeated that message on Wednesday. He declined to comment on Monday's announcement and said state officials were still negotiating.
"The Chrysler-GETRAG project is not yet a completed deal or a completed project," Frazier said. "Certainly we're optimistic the project will come to fruition, but I can't provide any details until all the parties have agreed."
Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski also declined to comment.
Construction crews have started moving dirt on the factory site, Tipton Mayor George Ogden said. The land sits about four miles west of his city of 5,000 people. Ogden said the factory could attract new businesses or spin-off industries and will help the county's tax base.
"We feel like if and when it happens it will probably change the whole complex of Tipton County," he said.
Chrysler already employs about 6,300 people at three transmission plants and one casting factory in Kokomo, which is 14 miles north of Tipton.
KTP is Chrysler's oldest facility in Kokomo, opening in 1956, while the Casting plant, the world's largest die-cast facility, opened in 1965. ITP I opened in 1998 with ITP II starting production five years later.
The new factory will be part of what Chrysler calls its "powertrain offensive." That involves a $3 billion investment in launching new engines and a fuel-efficient, dual-clutch transmission, which is being developed with GETRAG.
"The whole idea is we're developing lines of engines and components that deliver greater fuel economy," Elshoff said.
On Wednesday, Chrysler announced that it will spend $450 million to retool a Kenosha, Wis., engine plant to produce fuel-efficient V-6 engines, as another element of this powertrain offensive.
GETRAG, headquartered in Germany, produces manual transmissions and is allied with the European division of Ford. It supplies, or has supplied, transmissions to nearly every major automaker, including GM, DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Audi and Toyota.
Chrysler will be represented at Monday's announcement by Richard A. Chow-Wah, vice president for Powertrain Manufacturing, and Brian Harlow, general manager of its Transmission, Casting, Machining and Axle Division, while Ulrich Kohler, vice president of Manufacturing and Engineering, and Len Sennish, vice president of Human Resources, will be on hand for GETRAG.
UAW Region 3 director Mo Davison and Guy Barger and Andrew J. Mercker, presidents of locals 685 and 1302 respectively, are also scheduled to be on hand. Tipton County will be represented by Commissioner Tom Dolezal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report