FINDLAY, OH—Whirlpool Corp. has begun construction on a $40 million expansion project at its dishwasher assembly plant here. The project will add 86,400 square feet to the facility and create approximately 50 new jobs. In addition, the appliance manufacturer has completed work on $40 million expansion project at its assembly plant in nearby Greenville, OH.
FOLEY, AL—UTC Aerospace Systems is building a new 80,000-square-foot assembly plant here to supply parts for Airbus’ assembly plant in nearby Mobile. Slated to open in 2017, the factory is expected to create 260 jobs.
LIBERTY, SC—Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Co. Inc. will spend $23.1 million to add 150,000 square feet of space to its assembly plant here. The expansion is expected to create 100 jobs.
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.
GREENVILLE, SC—GE Power has opened a new $73 million Advanced Manufacturing Works here. The state-of-the-art facility will be used to drive innovation and apply new manufacturing technology to the production of turbines and other machines.
DAYTON, TN—Workers at the La-Z-Boy assembly plant here have logged more than 6.8 million production hours without recording a lost-time injury case, a record for a U.S. furniture manufacturer according to industry trade group American Home Furnishings Alliance.
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.