GM's White Marsh Plant Holds Open House
WHITE MARSH, Md. (WJZ) -- Just one day after breaking ground on a new electric motor plant, the GM transmission plant in White Marsh opened its doors to hundreds of people for its first ever open house.
Derek Valcourt gives us a rare look inside the plant and the product Maryland workers are pinning the future on.
The GM plant in White Marsh has been building award-winning transmissions for 10 years. Now they're preparing for an electric future.
It's a rare look inside the GM plant on Philadelphia Road in White Marsh, the first time ever the plant has opened up for public tours. It's an exciting time for employees here, in part because of the next generation of electric motors, motors so important to GM that the company will soon build a new $270 million facility right next door to the plant in White Marsh.
"It's really good for the future of this plant," said Mico Gonzales.
Good because the electric cars bring a sense of job security.
"Everybody's talking about it. The competition is out there. GM is doing it, Ford, Chrysler, so it's going to be competitive," said Rita Burks.
This transmission plant already employs 206 Maryland workers and when the new electric motor plant is up and running, GM will add another 190 to their workforce here.
"It is a big deal for this plant because we will have a lot of people to come back that was laid off and we are so proud to have this product coming to us so we can put a lot of people back to work," said Johnnie Nelson.
"Maybe they'll give us a chance to get some of our relatives, get them a job in here, because it's really hard out there to get jobs," Gonzales said.
Employees are planning to build quality electric motors they say will help launch the future of America's automotive industry.
"We're confident we are going to be able to do that and do that better than anybody else in the world," said plant manager Bill Tiger.
GM says its new electric motor plant will be ready to begin production in 2013.
Constellation Energy is also installing a rooftop solar installation on the current GM plant that will help supply electricity for buildings.
