Joe
Club Member
The final General Motors “big block” V-8 engine — one of a series that has been around in one form or another since 1959 — rolled off the line at Tonawanda’s Powertrain plant on Friday.
For Willie Ray, who guided that last engine onto a cart for transport, it was a particularly bittersweet day. Thinking he was on his way to another building and safe from a round of layoffs stemming from the line’s end, Ray came in Friday to find out he was the final person to be sent home at Christmas with no definite return date.
“I’m the cut-off guy,” Ray said, “so that also means I’ll be the first one to be called back.”
Ray has been with GM for 29 years — 15 of them in Tonawanda — and is no stranger to the indefinite hiatus that can come with an auto industry job.
“I was laid off for almost five years before,” he said. “This is a blessing compared to what that was like.”
He’s not alone. Plant Communications Director Nina Price said the plant currently has 162 employees on indefinite volume related layoff. As of Jan. 1 — once the 108 people on the L18 line are filtered onto other lines based on seniority — the facility will have approximately 280 employees in that category. While the plant was able to add back 58 laid off workers in October, the inability of Ray’s 29 years to make the seniority cut this time around illustrates how far the cutbacks are going.
The assembled crowd took the news with a mix of fatalistic grumbling and devil-may-care cheer. A smiley face drawn on the bottom of the engine surrounded by the words, “Have a nice layoff” adequately captured the sentiment
Industry leader
Plant Manager Steve Finch said the large engine was developed in 1958, around the same time he was born. It was redesigned several times to increase horsepower and improve efficiency, with the L18 going into production in 1999.
As cars grew bigger, the powerful engine grew more popular. But with the recent trend toward fuel efficiency taking over more of the market, the engine had dwindled to less than 3 percent of GM’s total production. The staffing levels needed to make engines has also plummeted. The Tonawanda plant — which 20 years ago employed 4,350 people — currently has about 663 hourly and 140 salaried workers.
Finch said that doesn’t mean some customers aren’t sad to see the big blocks go. Speed boat manufacturers that use the V-8 have put in orders for two years’ worth of motors.
“It was our lowest volume engine all told, but the customers we have are very loyal to this engine,” Finch said.
Shop Chairman Bob Coleman started in the line in 1980 and laughed when he thought about the foreboding warning he got at the time.
“The first thing my partner said to me was, ‘You know, you better get off this line because it’s leaving,’” Coleman said.
Plenty of others, whether current employees or retirees who returned for the engine’s send off, were given a similar warning. But the hundred or so signatures on the final product only represents a portion of the men and women who built the 5.1 million engines over 45 years in Tonawanda.
New life
After celebrating the engine’s place in American history, the crowd’s thoughts reasonably shifted to what will replace it. Mike Fonte, L18 machine superintendent, said finding the proper words of thanks for dedicated employees leaving the line proved difficult, but he came up with an idea.
“You know how you can say thank you?” Forte said to Coleman. “You can put a new engine line right here.”
Coleman and Finch said they’ve both been trying to do just that, but competition between GM plants around the country makes finding any type of assurance difficult. A four-cylinder engine found in the Chevrolet Cobalt and Malibu is now the plant’s main product, and the facility also produces a five-cylinder engine.
While the facility lost a $300 million diesel line when GM decided to scrap the project, Finch said that allocation and others yet to come reflect an exceptional work record at the Tonawanda plant that management notices. Even though he can’t say when a new engine will need building, he’s certain the local plant will be a strong contender for the work as soon as it exists.
“I’m confident at some point in time we’ll be back here for a big celebration when we make that happen,” Finch said of landing a new line.
Even Ray — who got a layoff notice in his Christmas stocking this year — is optimistic for the facility’s future. He’s heard rumors of new opportunities, and while he isn’t speculating about a giant windfall, he’s hopeful that something good waits at the end of the big block line.
“Hopefully a new line will come in and all these people will be back, along with all the others that are laid off,” Ray said.
http://www.tonawanda-news.com/local/local_story_352232506.html
For Willie Ray, who guided that last engine onto a cart for transport, it was a particularly bittersweet day. Thinking he was on his way to another building and safe from a round of layoffs stemming from the line’s end, Ray came in Friday to find out he was the final person to be sent home at Christmas with no definite return date.
“I’m the cut-off guy,” Ray said, “so that also means I’ll be the first one to be called back.”
Ray has been with GM for 29 years — 15 of them in Tonawanda — and is no stranger to the indefinite hiatus that can come with an auto industry job.
“I was laid off for almost five years before,” he said. “This is a blessing compared to what that was like.”
He’s not alone. Plant Communications Director Nina Price said the plant currently has 162 employees on indefinite volume related layoff. As of Jan. 1 — once the 108 people on the L18 line are filtered onto other lines based on seniority — the facility will have approximately 280 employees in that category. While the plant was able to add back 58 laid off workers in October, the inability of Ray’s 29 years to make the seniority cut this time around illustrates how far the cutbacks are going.
The assembled crowd took the news with a mix of fatalistic grumbling and devil-may-care cheer. A smiley face drawn on the bottom of the engine surrounded by the words, “Have a nice layoff” adequately captured the sentiment
Industry leader
Plant Manager Steve Finch said the large engine was developed in 1958, around the same time he was born. It was redesigned several times to increase horsepower and improve efficiency, with the L18 going into production in 1999.
As cars grew bigger, the powerful engine grew more popular. But with the recent trend toward fuel efficiency taking over more of the market, the engine had dwindled to less than 3 percent of GM’s total production. The staffing levels needed to make engines has also plummeted. The Tonawanda plant — which 20 years ago employed 4,350 people — currently has about 663 hourly and 140 salaried workers.
Finch said that doesn’t mean some customers aren’t sad to see the big blocks go. Speed boat manufacturers that use the V-8 have put in orders for two years’ worth of motors.
“It was our lowest volume engine all told, but the customers we have are very loyal to this engine,” Finch said.
Shop Chairman Bob Coleman started in the line in 1980 and laughed when he thought about the foreboding warning he got at the time.
“The first thing my partner said to me was, ‘You know, you better get off this line because it’s leaving,’” Coleman said.
Plenty of others, whether current employees or retirees who returned for the engine’s send off, were given a similar warning. But the hundred or so signatures on the final product only represents a portion of the men and women who built the 5.1 million engines over 45 years in Tonawanda.
New life
After celebrating the engine’s place in American history, the crowd’s thoughts reasonably shifted to what will replace it. Mike Fonte, L18 machine superintendent, said finding the proper words of thanks for dedicated employees leaving the line proved difficult, but he came up with an idea.
“You know how you can say thank you?” Forte said to Coleman. “You can put a new engine line right here.”
Coleman and Finch said they’ve both been trying to do just that, but competition between GM plants around the country makes finding any type of assurance difficult. A four-cylinder engine found in the Chevrolet Cobalt and Malibu is now the plant’s main product, and the facility also produces a five-cylinder engine.
While the facility lost a $300 million diesel line when GM decided to scrap the project, Finch said that allocation and others yet to come reflect an exceptional work record at the Tonawanda plant that management notices. Even though he can’t say when a new engine will need building, he’s certain the local plant will be a strong contender for the work as soon as it exists.
“I’m confident at some point in time we’ll be back here for a big celebration when we make that happen,” Finch said of landing a new line.
Even Ray — who got a layoff notice in his Christmas stocking this year — is optimistic for the facility’s future. He’s heard rumors of new opportunities, and while he isn’t speculating about a giant windfall, he’s hopeful that something good waits at the end of the big block line.
“Hopefully a new line will come in and all these people will be back, along with all the others that are laid off,” Ray said.
http://www.tonawanda-news.com/local/local_story_352232506.html
