General Motors Co. is investing $90.9 million in its Marion plant over the next several years, going specifically to enhance the facility’s stamping dies and equipment and to preserve the number of jobs at the factory.
Of the $90.9 million, more than 90 percent – or $82.5 million – will be spent in the development of new dies, which are used in metal stamping. Another $5.9 million will fund die alteration and $2.5 million will go to replace cranes that move dies throughout the facility, according to a GM press release.
GM made the announcement Monday at the plant to employees, city officials, community members, state representatives and members of the media.
“I have made my living with words as a journalist, but words fail me today in expressing how deeply grateful we are of General Motors,” Marion Common Council member Alan Miller said, speaking in place of Mayor Jess Alumbaugh, who was attending a funeral.
Miller said the investment will not create more jobs but would preserve ones that are still there at the westside plant – something he finds just as important.
“Guaranteeing the future of 1,100 (employees) … is more than enough,” Miller told the Chronicle-Tribune. “The timing couldn’t have been better.”
The investment comes at the city is in talk with GM about an unpaid debt the city owes the automaker in tax increment financing receipts. The amount owed is estimated at to be a six-figure sum, caused by years of miscalculated payments.
Marion Plant Manager Tom Gallagher said there were many factors leading to the $90 million investment.
“It’s a culmination of a lot of work,” Gallagher said. “There’s been a lot of pre-work, a lot of hard, dedicated work by launching products successfully and bringing work to the plant and doing it successfully.”
The Marion Common Council helped make way for the investment by approving GM’s request for an $85 million tax abatement in June.
Alumbaugh said Marion has always been a “GM town.” The Marion Metal Center is the largest employer in Marion with more than 1,100 employees.
“I think (this investment) secures GM here moving forward for a while now,” Alumbaugh told the Chronicle-Tribune. “We’ve had it here for 60 years. … The last thing that the citizens of Marion would want is to see that plant shut down.”
The GM Foundation also awarded $40,000 in donations to four Grant County organizations.
The Cardinal Greenway received $5,000 to repair eroding river banks, the Marion-Grant County Senior Center received $10,000, the Community Foundation of Grant County received $10,000 and United Way of Grant County received $15,000.
Shelly Jones, development manager of the Community Foundation, said the $10,000 will go directly to the Little Giants Preschool fund with Marion Community Schools.
Jones received an invitation to the GM announcement unaware of the monetary gift she would receive.
“It was a complete surprise,” she said. “It was just an honor to be a part of that and to be able to see the support for our Little Giants. … They are doing some amazing things.”
In the last several months, GM has contributed $1.4 billion in new investment to the State of Indiana, according to a representative from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.