Fasten Your Seatbelts
business, chevrolet traverse, frank tamberrino, general motors, maury county, spring hill,
Saturn Corp. changed Spring Hill when the automaker started manufacturing cars in 1990.
And now in 2009, more change has arrived.
The Spring Hill automotive manufacturing facility no longer produces Saturns. Instead, the plant is now known as General Motors-Spring Hill Manufacturing, and 2009 Chevrolet Traverse SUVs are rolling off the assembly line.
“Yes, times have certainly changed and continue to change for the auto industry, including in Spring Hill and Maury County,” says Frank Tamberrino, president of Maury Alliance. “At one time, there were 8,000 employees at the Spring Hill plant. Even though that number is now around 3,500, General Motors still remains a big player in this community.”
Several suppliers to GM are also located in Maury County to assist in the Chevy Traverse manufacturing process. Some of the larger suppliers include Johnson Controls, Penske and Premier.
“In all, nearly 50 percent of the workers who build the Traverse are living in Maury County,” Tamberrino says. “For many years, General Motors has had a big economic impact in this community, and it still does.”
The Spring Hill assembly plant has recently become one of the most advanced and efficient in the automotive world. In 2007 and 2008, General Motors poured $690 million into the plant in order to completely revamp and retool the production line operations. Spring Hill can now manufacture virtually any vehicle in GM’s product lineup.
“The plant has always been advanced, but now it is the most modern that General Motors has in its entire system,” Tamberrino says. “The retooling included installation of a flex line, which means that the Spring Hill plant can produce just about anything – with very little notice or turnover time.”
In other words, because the Traverse actually sits on a car body, it would not take much time and effort to have the Spring Hill plant produce bodies for other GM models such as Buicks, Saabs and other Chevrolets.
“We see the Traverse as just the beginning of many more additional products coming to Maury County,” Tamberrino says. “The Spring Hill site is a very flexible facility that has positioned itself as well as it can be, given today’s economic circumstances in the automotive industry.”
The Chevrolet Traverse has a base price of $29,900 and is equipped with just about every advanced mechanism available.
“I took a ride in a Traverse before they became available to the public and I was thoroughly impressed,” Tamberrino says. “The one I rode in had all the bells and whistles. It even had seats that quickly warm or cool to ideal temperatures for every passenger. The Traverse is an incredible vehicle, and I wish GM all the luck with it.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
