Since bankruptcy, General Motors is a different company. Tuesday, a local plant revealed its new procedures that it says will position itself for a successful future.
Some of those procedures include drastic changes in the way the union and management interact as well as management asking employees how to do the job.
It's a total transformation of Flint's Metal Center. The presses have been moved from closed down Pontiac and Grand Rapids facilities.
The workers also moved.
Kris Lemonds worked at a Grand Rapids facility for more than 28-years, now she's working in Flint.
"The transition has worked very well for me. I'm very happy. Everybody's been really nice and they made the move a lot easier," says Lemonds.
Many of the new workers had skills in aluminum. Flint's Metal Center had been only steel, requiring input from the transplants.
Engineering manager Telva McGruder says, "The workforce here was a little concerned at first, but once they realized that they wanted to learn, and employees coming wanted to teach, it really all worked out."
For the first time at Flint Metal Center, contract employees and union members work side-by-side. It's a move that would have caused a riot years ago. Now, it's seen as progress.
UAW Metal Fab shop chairman Don Reinhart says, at Metal Fab, "We can't do it all. We got skinnied down so far that we can't do it all. So we have to reach out and do what we can do to make sure gm stays successful and that gives us our jobs. It helps us stay in the business."
The metal center received new work including hoods for Buicks, also products for the GMC Yukon, Chevy Equinox, and Cadillac CTS.
Management says the consolidation makes the company more efficient and environmentally-friendly.
General Motors says half of its facilities will be zero-landfill by the end of the year, meaning it's recycling or reusing all of its scrap.
Thursday, a GM executive will speak to Mott Community College students about the electrification of the company with the Chevrolet Volt.
