GM expands bedford plant.

General Motors (GM), Detroit, announced it is investing $48 million in its GM Powertrain Bedford Foundry, Bedford, Ind., to produce transmission cases and converter housings for GM's six-speed transmissions.

The investment, partly made possible by local incentives, will help transition hourly and salaried employees to the expanded work and cover partial facility renovation, which will include more energy-efficient melting furnaces and new machinery, equipment and tooling to support the additional volume.

The Bedford Foundry, an aluminum melting, diecasting and permanent mold facility, produces transmission cases and converter housings for six-speed transmission facilities in Ypsilanti and Warren, Mich., and Toledo, Ohio, which are ramping up production. Bedford also produces transmission castings, pistons and engine blocks for other GM Powertrain facilities.

Facility renovations are set to begin in July. Increased production of rear-wheel drive six-speed cases is already underway, and production will begin on front-wheel drive six-speed cases later this year. Full volume for both rear- and front-wheel drive cases is expected by late 2008.

The 915,000-sq.-ft. Bedford Foundry employs 770 hourly and salaried employees.