Nearly given up for dead a few years ago, Michigan’s automakers have come roaring back and are leading one of the strongest state economic recoveries in the nation. Today, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are churning out billions of dollars in profits and are hiring thousands of workers. But we’ve seen […]
General Motors
Posted inBusiness Watch
Labor says it will prevail, but RTW experts are skeptical
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Given recent events in Indiana, third-shift General Motors worker Roxanna Lucas was “not surprised” when Michigan followed suit by adopting a Right to Work labor standard. Lucas, like many coworkers at the sprawling suburban Fort Wayne GM assembly plant, sees RTW as nothing less than a calculated scheme to take down […]
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Motor City rolls on to tech, health care
Detroit has long been known as the Motor City. Don’t trying telling city officials that it isn’t anymore. Much of the city’s automotive production left long ago, as manufacturers and suppliers moved operations to lower-cost southern states. But Detroit officials will quickly remind you of significant auto operations that are still here — and are, […]
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Forecasting a slower, pricier car industry
Cars might cost $50,000 on average by 2025. Vehicle sales in the United States may never bounce back to the levels of a decade ago. And electric vehicles aren’t likely to catch on with consumers for years, if at all. So says Sean McAlinden, executive vice president of research and chief economist at the Center […]
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What's the business case for second Detroit bridge?
Editor’s note: Gov. Rick Snyder joined Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last Friday to announce a formal deal to start construction on a second bridge linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. Snyder announced his support for the span in his first weeks as governor in 2011. Michigan’s share of the construction costs — $550 million — […]
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Awaiting green energy's payoff
A North Carolina company canceled a wind farm project in January that would have placed as a many as 112 towering turbines across two counties in northwest Michigan. Energy Conversion Devices, one of the state’s pioneer manufacturers of advanced batteries and solar panels, filed for bankruptcy protection in February. Several ethanol refining plants planned for […]
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Debate continues, but Volt retains its buzz
General Motors CEO Dan Akerson recently lamented that the Chevrolet Volt had become “a political punching bag” for conservatives who see it as a rolling symbol of liberal economic policies. But the repeated right hooks haven’t knocked the Volt out yet. Just weeks after GM announced a temporary production shutdown due to slow sales, the […]
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Prospects brighten for Mich. heavyweights
At Kelly Services Inc., business is good — quite good. In Michigan alone last year, the global staffing company placed approximately 2,500 more people in positions than it did in 2010, spanning industries and all lines of Kelly’s business: temporary help, temp-to-hire and direct hires. There’s been steady, increased demand for Troy-based Kelly’s services as […]
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Good for GM, good for social conservatives
General Motors says it had a record annual profit in 2011 of $7.6 billion, up 62 percent from the previous year. Since we are hip deep in a political campaign, it seems reasonable to ask: Who gets the credit for it? In practical terms, GM’s improvement benefits anyone who now holds political office in Lansing […]
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Pulse quickens in Mich. manufacturing
It looked like the end of the millennium would also be the end of Michigan manufacturing. The state lost 47 percent of its manufacturing employment, nearly 423,000 jobs, between 2000 and 2010 as the U.S. auto industry went into a frightening decline. But like a patient who surprisingly wakes up from a years-long coma, manufacturing […]