Flint East
Encyclopedia
Flint East is an automobile
component production complex owned by Delphi Corporation in Flint, Michigan
. The complex, parts of which are about 100 years old, is located on Dort Highway
, stretching along Robert T. Longway Boulevard past Center Road. The plant has produced numerous automotive components, including instrument panels
, instrument clusters, spark plugs, filters, air meters, fuel pumps and other electronic parts. Flint East once employed nearly 14,000 people, but as of 2007, was down to about 1,100 hourly workers.
Delphi's Flint Technical Center is also located on the site. In March 2007, it was announced that the company's technical centers, including Flint, would be consolidated to a single facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan
.
Hourly workers at the plant are represented by UAW Local 651.
building in Flint, Michigan. It was purchased by General Motors Corporation in 1909 to supply the growing automobile company, and AC Spark Plug moved a few years later to a factory at Harriet Street and Industrial Avenue.
The Dort Motor Car Company
began building automobiles on the east side of the city in 1915, in a factory that would later be part of Flint East. In 1924, an economic downturn weakened the company and J. Dallas Dort's health began to fail, and the company folded and the complex was sold to AC Spark Plug in 1925.
AC Spark Plug continued operations in both the Harriet Street and Dort Highway facilities until 1975, when the Harriet Street plant was closed and razed. In 1987, AC took over the former Chevrolet facilities on Chevrolet Avenue in Flint, naming that complex Flint West, and the Dort Highway facility became Flint East. The following year, AC Spark Plug and Rochester Products Division merged, becoming AC Rochester. For a time, the division's headquarters remained at Flint East, but soon moved to the Great Lakes Tech Center on the old Fisher #1 site.
Further consolidation among GM's divisions led to the division being renamed AC Delco Systems in 1994, and in 1995, the entire Automotive Components Group became Delphi Automotive Systems.
In 1998, fearing a strike over a $200 million investment that had not materialized, GM began to pull critical dies from the Flint Metal Fab plant on the other side of town, to be shipped to another plant. The UAW
workers at the plant immediately went on strike to protest the move. Mostly in response to this, but also because of fears that their own work would be moved elsewhere, workers at Flint East went on strike a week later on June 11. Since Flint East was the sole source of some parts for almost the entire company, within two weeks, virtually all of General Motors was shut down. On July 28, GM agreed to the investment to Flint Metal Fab and to keep Flint East open until at least 2000. The union agreed to cooperate on efforts to increase productivity at both plants. The strike cost GM an estimated US$2.8 billion.
Shortly after the strike, it was announced that Delphi would be spun off in 1999 into what is now Delphi Corporation, and Flint East was for a time part of Delphi's Energy and Engine Management Systems division. In 2002, ongoing financial problems caused the plant to be placed in the Automotive Holdings Group, a collection of under performing plants that Delphi felt needed to be fixed, sold, or closed. Delphi declared bankruptcy in October 2005, and announced plans to close or sell 21 of its 29 US plants by Jan 1, 2008, including Flint East. Spark plug production, already greatly reduced, ended in early 2006.
The plant has since been razed since early 2010 according to Flint based newspaper The Flint Journal and WJRT-12, an ABC affiliate.
Under an agreement reached by Delphi, General Motors, and the UAW in June 2007, Flint East and two other plants would remain open, but operated by GM or a third party designated by GM. Four other UAW-represented plants would be kept by Delphi, four sold, and at least ten others closed under the agreement.
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
component production complex owned by Delphi Corporation in Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
. The complex, parts of which are about 100 years old, is located on Dort Highway
M-54 (Michigan highway)
M-54 is a state trunkline highway approximately long in the US state of Michigan that bypasses the city of Flint. It is named "Dort Highway" in much of its length, in honor of Flint carriage and automobile pioneer Josiah Dallas Dort, the business partner of General Motors founder William C. Durant...
, stretching along Robert T. Longway Boulevard past Center Road. The plant has produced numerous automotive components, including instrument panels
Dashboard
A dashboard is a control panel placed in front of the driver of an automobile, housing instrumentation and controls for operation of the vehicle....
, instrument clusters, spark plugs, filters, air meters, fuel pumps and other electronic parts. Flint East once employed nearly 14,000 people, but as of 2007, was down to about 1,100 hourly workers.
Delphi's Flint Technical Center is also located on the site. In March 2007, it was announced that the company's technical centers, including Flint, would be consolidated to a single facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan
Auburn Hills, Michigan
Auburn Hills is a city in Metro Detroit, Oakland County, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 21,412 at the 2010 census. The city was formed in 1983 when Pontiac Township became the City of Auburn Hills.-Economy:...
.
Hourly workers at the plant are represented by UAW Local 651.
History
After losing control of Champion Ignition Company, Albert Champion founded the AC Spark Plug Company in 1908 in a BuickBuick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
building in Flint, Michigan. It was purchased by General Motors Corporation in 1909 to supply the growing automobile company, and AC Spark Plug moved a few years later to a factory at Harriet Street and Industrial Avenue.
The Dort Motor Car Company
Dort (automobile)
The Dort was an automobile built by the Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan from 1915 - 1924. Dort used Lycoming built engines to power their vehicles....
began building automobiles on the east side of the city in 1915, in a factory that would later be part of Flint East. In 1924, an economic downturn weakened the company and J. Dallas Dort's health began to fail, and the company folded and the complex was sold to AC Spark Plug in 1925.
AC Spark Plug continued operations in both the Harriet Street and Dort Highway facilities until 1975, when the Harriet Street plant was closed and razed. In 1987, AC took over the former Chevrolet facilities on Chevrolet Avenue in Flint, naming that complex Flint West, and the Dort Highway facility became Flint East. The following year, AC Spark Plug and Rochester Products Division merged, becoming AC Rochester. For a time, the division's headquarters remained at Flint East, but soon moved to the Great Lakes Tech Center on the old Fisher #1 site.
Further consolidation among GM's divisions led to the division being renamed AC Delco Systems in 1994, and in 1995, the entire Automotive Components Group became Delphi Automotive Systems.
In 1998, fearing a strike over a $200 million investment that had not materialized, GM began to pull critical dies from the Flint Metal Fab plant on the other side of town, to be shipped to another plant. The UAW
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
workers at the plant immediately went on strike to protest the move. Mostly in response to this, but also because of fears that their own work would be moved elsewhere, workers at Flint East went on strike a week later on June 11. Since Flint East was the sole source of some parts for almost the entire company, within two weeks, virtually all of General Motors was shut down. On July 28, GM agreed to the investment to Flint Metal Fab and to keep Flint East open until at least 2000. The union agreed to cooperate on efforts to increase productivity at both plants. The strike cost GM an estimated US$2.8 billion.
Shortly after the strike, it was announced that Delphi would be spun off in 1999 into what is now Delphi Corporation, and Flint East was for a time part of Delphi's Energy and Engine Management Systems division. In 2002, ongoing financial problems caused the plant to be placed in the Automotive Holdings Group, a collection of under performing plants that Delphi felt needed to be fixed, sold, or closed. Delphi declared bankruptcy in October 2005, and announced plans to close or sell 21 of its 29 US plants by Jan 1, 2008, including Flint East. Spark plug production, already greatly reduced, ended in early 2006.
The plant has since been razed since early 2010 according to Flint based newspaper The Flint Journal and WJRT-12, an ABC affiliate.
Under an agreement reached by Delphi, General Motors, and the UAW in June 2007, Flint East and two other plants would remain open, but operated by GM or a third party designated by GM. Four other UAW-represented plants would be kept by Delphi, four sold, and at least ten others closed under the agreement.