DEARBORN, MI—Ford will invest $1.6 billion to upgrade assembly plants in Indiana and Ohio, as part of its commitment in the 2015 contract talks with UAW to invest $9 billion in its U.S. manufacturing facilities.
SPRING HILL, TN—General Motors is investing $790 million at its assembly plant here and another $118 million in Michigan. The company will create nearly 800 jobs at the Spring Hill plant as part of the new high-efficiency engine program and other modernization initiatives.
CHATTANOOGA, TN—VW will appeal to federal court a National Labor Relations Board decision upholding a vote in which a small group of skilled trades workers at the carmaker’s Tennessee assembly plant aligned with the UAW.
TRENTON, MI—FCA US will invest $74.7 million in its Trenton Engine Complex here to retool the north plant to produce the next generation four-cylinder engine, retaining 245 jobs. The new engine will be assembled on the flexible production line that was installed in 2012.
TOKYO—Honda Motor Co. has developed a mass-production automobile assembly line with a main line that incorporates a flowing-cell production system. In a conventional line, each worker takes charge of a single process and installs parts in vehicles flowing on a conveyor. In Honda’s new ARC line, four workers board moving conveyor unit that carries one vehicle and a complete set of parts. The workers assemble the vehicle while moving along the production line together with the vehicle.
DETROIT—A man with a gun was subdued by workers when he slipped past security at a Fiat Chrysler assembly plant here. The morning shift had just started when the intruder appeared at the plant. Before any shots were fired, about eight workers wrestled the handgun out of the man’s hands and then held him until police arrived.
NOVI, MI—The former president of a U.S. joint venture of Nishikawa Rubber Co. has pled guilty to fixing the prices of weather stripping and other auto body sealing products and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
CHATTANOOGA, TN—Volkswagen may soon need to negotiate wages and benefits with the UAW local in Tennessee after the National Labor Relations Board rejected the automaker’s appeal that skilled-trades workers couldn’t organize separately from others at its assembly plant here.