Difference between revisions of "Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly"

The 362 [[acre]] (1.46 km²) site was once an inner-city neighborhood known as [[Poletown]], but was razed and converted to a $500 million assembly plant in 1985. Poletown was the location for 1,200 homes and businesses, including [[Chrysler Corporation|Chrysler]]'s [[Dodge Main]] factory. The destruction of this neighborhood was the subject of five years of protests and court battles, but the city sided with General Motors, seeking new jobs and investment. The city took the land by [[eminent domain]], and this decision was later criticized as a misuse of this power.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}

The 2,990,000 square foot (278,000 m²) factory was one of the most high-tech in the industry when it was built, and was part of a modernization effort for GM that also included the [[Buick City]] complex in [[Flint, Michigan|Flint]]. Some of the advances in place included a modular paint system, electric (rather than [[hydraulic]]) robots, [[Just In Time (business)|just-in-time]] deliveries, and a plan for paperless operations.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}

Not everything worked as planned. The robots were notoriously unreliable and the plant's reliance on them was radically reduced. The [[GM E platform|E-body]] [[personal luxury car]]s manufactured at Poletown were also poorly received and soon cancelled. Cadillac [[GM K platform|K-body]] production was consolidated there in the 1990s, but sales were weakening. By the late 1990s, industry analysts were asking what went wrong at the factory. GM too seemed to be losing faith, cancelling the [[GM Epsilon platform|Epsilon platform]] [[crossover SUV|crossovers]] due to be manufactured there and moving the [[Cadillac Eldorado]] to the [[Lansing Craft Centre]]. But production continued, and Detroit/Hamtramck currently produces large [[front-wheel drive]] cars for Buick and Cadillac.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}