General Motors to close malleable facility by 2007, move operations to defiance plant.General Motors Corp. (GM), Detroit, announced that it will close its Saginaw (Mich.) Malleable Iron (Metal.) iron sufficiently pure or soft to be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less brittle, and to some extent malleable. plant (SMI (1) (Storage Management Initiative) The initiative developed by the SNIA in 2003 to create a single standard interface for storage management technologies used by multiple vendors and networking communities. ) before the expiration of the national contract between GM and the United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, officially the United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union union. Thus, the facility will end operations by Sept. 14, 2007. "The market for malleable iron has reduced dramatically as more efficient materials and processes are introduced," said Rick Sutton, plant manager at SMI. "Over the years, this has caused capacity utilization Capacity Utilization measures the rate at which a firm makes use of their capital productive capacities, such as factories and machinery. Capacity Utilization generally rises when the economy is healthy and falls when demand softens. issues ,it the facility to the point today when it is no longer prudent to continue operations at SMI into the future." Three hundred fifty employees at the 2-million-sq.-ft. facility will be affected, but GM will try to retain them to work elsewhere in the company. Most of the remaining production at SMI will be transferred to GM Powertrain's Defiance, Ohio, casting plant. |
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