TMCNet: GM expected to make a big Fairfax expansion announcement Monday

[January 25, 2013]

GM expected to make a big Fairfax expansion announcement Monday

Jan 24, 2013 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Top General Motors and union representatives have scheduled a press conference Monday to announce what Unified Government officials anticipate will be a huge expansion at the Fairfax Assembly Plant that will assure its operation for many years to come.


Last September, the Unified Government Board of Commissioners approved issuing $120 million in revenue bonds at GM's request to finance a 400,000-square-foot paint shop addition to the Fairfax plant in Kansas City, Kan. The assembly plant currently employs about 3,750 people and is the largest private employer in Wyandotte County.

Doug Bach, deputy county administrator for economic development, said today he's optimistic about why the GM executives are coming.

"We'd like to think they're coming in to make an announcement about that project," Bach said.

The media alert issued by GM for the Monday event at the Fairfax plant said a top-level gathering is expected.

"Several members of the UAW and GM's most senior leadership are scheduled to participate, as well as Federal and Local government officials," the company invitation stated.

At the time the Unified Government board approved the request for $120 million in revenue bonds, they were told it would finance a massive new paint shop at the 3 million square-foot plant where the Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Malibu are assembled.

The revenue bonds were to be used for construction of the new building and did not include how much GM would spend equipping it.

With advanced robotics and other state-of-the-art auto manufacturing technology, that additional investment could be several hundred million dollars.

While the huge new paint shop operation is not expected to lead to significant additional employment at the plant, local government officials saw it is a huge vote of confidence by GM that it will continue manufacturing vehicles there for the foreseeable future.

In 2011, the plant produced 214,000 Malibu's and 65,000 Lacrosse's, according to Automobile magazine, making Fairfax the 10th most productive auto plant in the country.

If GM confirms it's moving ahead with the paint shop project, it would be the latest in almost $1.9 billion in reinvestment the auto giant has made at the Fairfax plant over the past 10 years. Its biggest single reinvestment was $722 million in 2003 when the firm launched its Chevy Malibu line. An additional $136 million was invested in 2010 on the "new generation" Malibu.

The current plant was built in 1985. It opened on the site of a former Fairfax facility built in 1945 that made both cars and jet aircraft.

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