Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
MISHAWAKA -- For a manufacturing company that operates under contract, talking about what might happen is a pointless exercise.
The questions what if, what would be the impact, what would you do are brushed aside when asked of AM General and the manufacture of the Hummer H2 truck.
"It's a factor of our business," said Craig McNabb, director of public relations at AM General. "It's impossible to say anything about it when, in fact, it's nothing."
About 500 production and administration employees work in the Hummer division of the AM General plant on McKinley Highway and depend on building the mammoth vehicle for a paycheck. But the recent announcement that Hummer's parent General Motors was undertaking a "strategic review of the Hummer brand" is almost shrugged off by local officials and even some workers.
Do not even bother to ask what if.
"You can make up all the ifs you want," McNabb said. "We could be struck by a meteor."
Six-year employee and Jimtown resident Norm Lee Hanna is putting his trust in AM General. He believes company officials when they tell the workers they did not build the Mishawaka manufacturing facility to be an empty monument and he agrees with what he sees as the company's practice of not wanting to "worry the workforce" by openly discussing preliminary plans or future business.
He chooses to focus on his job as a team leader in hard metal assembly. Even after getting a taste of being jobless during the several months the Hummer plant shut down because of the strike at American Axle, Hanna does not dwell on what might happen.
"If they close the Hummer plant and I didn't have a job, there are people within half a block of my home who would give me gas to mow my yard and food for my freezer until I found another job," Hanna said. "For me, I keep my faith in the Lord and trust he'll see me through."
On June 3, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced a series of steps to respond to the growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles and to the "economic and market challenges" in North America. Along with increasing production of higher-mileage cars and halting production at four plants that build pickups and sport utility vehicles, Wagoner said the company also was undertaking a "strategic review of the Hummer brand."
The Hummer H2 is built at the AM General plant while the H3 and newly launched H3T are built in Shreveport, La. For the Mishawaka plant, GM has agreed to let AM General build any H2s the auto maker orders through 2014, McNabb said.
When the Detroit automaker announced its contract with AM General in January 2000, the economic development was hailed as one of the biggest in Indiana in the last 10 years. The investment from the agreement was expected to result in more than $200 million to be spent in expanding and equipping local facilities and cause another $50 million for road improvements, according to Project Future. In addition, the anticipated wages of the new jobs were predicted to be $15 to $17 an hour, $2 to $5 more than the existing wages of other local manufacturing positions.
Both GM and AM General emphasized Hummers continue to be built and no definite decision has been made. Still, GM has hired Citibank as an investment adviser to assess the global value of the brand.
"If we can't maximize its value, perhaps somebody else can," said Joanne Krell, director of communications for Cadillac, Hummer and Saab. She pointed out that Hummer owners are loyal to the distinctive vehicle and even though sales are slumping in the United States, global growth is spectacular. "That's why we know there is a market for the Hummer."
The customer loyalty does not surprise Hanna. The steady pace of the production line keeps the workers moving and they have to stay focused. Any problems with parts or assembly are immediately communicated to management and those vehicles are set aside.
"We try to build the best truck we can build every day," Hanna said. "None of my guys want to build junk. There's a lot of good people that work in there. They've got a lot of pride in what they do."
The GM announcement sent jitters through some Hummer owners who called the Schepel dealership in Merrillville, said Jason Boone, sales manager. Hummer buyers range from families and business owners to college graduates and military personnel, from 21-year-olds to 70-year-olds. A few of Schepel customers owned more than five of the trucks.
Sales of Hummers have generally slowed at Schepel but Boone noted the dealership sold 300 in 2007 and 15 in just one month in 2008.
"It obviously raises a red flag," Patrick McMahon, executive director of Project Future in South Bend, said of the GM review, "but we're not terribly concerned right now because we suspect employees will be employed through the balance of the contract."
If Hummer production does stop at some point, McMahon is confident AM General would land another contract for another kind of vehicle. In fact, he said, the flexibility to produce a variety of heavy vehicles will keep the Mishawaka company in business for a longer period than a company that can only do one thing.
The "far more important" part of AM General's business is the military contract for producing the Humvee, McMahon said. That side of the operation employs about 1,500 workers, three times the Hummer division, and relies on local supplier and subcontractors which would multiply the impact of any shutdown.
McNabb acknowledged the significance of the military vehicles to AM General, calling the manufacturing, engineering and support of military vehicles the "heart of our business."
AM General began making military vehicles in 1964 and in 1983, retooled the plant to make Humvees. Production continues at a "ferocious rate," McNabb said.
"Making military vehicles is something we do and what we are very proud of but it is not an easy business," he said.
Like the Hummer division, the military section also faces what ifs and what would happen each time Congress has to provide funding.
Don Tabor of Elkhart has been working at AM General for 25 years. The unit chairman for United Auto Workers Local 5 Amalgamated, which represents workers at AM General, is used to questions about the future but, like Hanna, he believes the company keeps the best interests of its employees in mind.
"I kind of say, things work out because I've seen them work out a majority of the time," Tabor said.
Business continues as usual in the Hummer plant, Tabor said. GM's review may have some workers concerned but after the layoff caused by the American Axle strike, "people are glad to be back to making a living."
Hanna enjoyed the down time. He completed some projects around his house and coached his son and his son's friends in baseball. Now that he's back working 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., he still devotes afternoons and evenings to coaching.
At work, he said, he does his job, keeps his comments to himself and tries to maintain a good attitude. And he does not waste time wondering about the what if.
"If you let life beat on you and you take it too seriously," Hanna said, "you're going to be a miserable person."