Chamber members had a chance to view displays of products manufactured at the American Axle & Manufacturing facility in Three Rivers during the "Business After Hours" hosted by the company.

Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce members had an excellent opportunity to learn about the community’s largest employer as American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) hosted the organization’s latest “Business After Hours” (BAH) event.

The October 19th event, held in the plant at One Manufacturing Drive, featured a program about the facility and its operations, a guided tour of the plant, plus refreshments and the networking opportunities that are part of the BAH experience.

Gary Sielatycki, Manager, Industrial Engineering and Business Planner, sketched the history of the facility that began as a Continental Can Company plant with 460,000 square feet of space, constructed in 1955.  General Motors purchased the facility in 1977, expanded the building to 750,000 square feet, and produced transmissions there until 1990.  At that point, transmissions were phased out and replaced with operations that produced drive shafts from 1990 to 1994.

American Axle purchased the facility in 1994 as one of five plants that formed the original company.

Sielatycki highlighted a number of “landmarks” since AAM acquired the plant including the following:

•    In 2002, the facility produced its first 11 1/2-inch axle, business that was brought to Three Rivers from Mexico.
•    In 2004, the plant was expanded by 50,000 square feet on the north end of the building to accommodate production of drive shafts for Hummer vehicles.
•    In 2008, Sielatycki said, “We had a landmark competitive agreement with the UAW here.  Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be in this room today.”
•    In January of this year, the first 10 ½-inch axle was produced after moving operations from the AAM sister facility in Detroit.
•    2009 has also brought the launch of the Volvo Powertrain Mack Truck Bare Spindle Assembly.

Sielatycki explained that the south end of the plant houses drive shaft components and assembly operations, plus Commercial Vehicle Operations, which is the Mack Truck business, while the north end is home to axle production and the plant’s heat treat facilities.

The Three Rivers operation encompasses 800,000 square feet on a 123-acre plot.

The plant currently employs 528 people – 98 salaried employees and 430 hourly workers represented by UAW Local 2093.  According to Sielatycki, 86 percent of the salaried employees have degrees.  On the hourly side, workers have an average of 1.3 years of college education.

Sielatycki said, “We recognize that the people are the most important asset that we have in the company.”  Onsite training is provided – technical training, quality, and lean manufacturing.  He said, “We average 50 hours per associate on an ongoing basis every year.”

Regarding the prospects for the plant, Sielatycki said, “There are opportunities out there for axles, as well as – down the road – drive shafts so we expect to be growing.”

Greg Yezback, Plant Manager at the American Axle facility in Three Rivers, said the new Mack Truck program "is very representative of what we'll see in the future."

In his comments during the event, Plant Manager Greg Yezback noted the Mack Truck business getting underway now and said, “It’s a lot different than the business this plant has secured over the last 15 years.”  He said the big programs of past years “are long gone.  They’re just not out there anymore.  This Mack Truck program, I think, is very representative of what we’ll see in the future” with “much more components, a lot more machining, sort of smaller lines taking up 50,000 square feet.”

Yezback sees the change as good.  He said, “It’s really going to diversify our business – take some of the waves of the automotive industry (that) will kind of smooth out if we have a lot of commercial, some agricultural work.  We’re looking at some potential gears from ‘green’ energy requirements, things like that.”  Greg_Yezback audio clip – 1:20

For additional insights regarding the Chamber visit to American Axle from Rick Cordes and the Three Rivers Commercial-News, click here.