From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine

- Jan. 16, 2014 -

Supply Chain News: In Surprising Move, Chinese Company to Buy Large Chunk of Abandoned GM Plant in Ohio

Moraine Factory was Subject of Award Winning HBO Documentary about Its Closing in 2008

SCDigest Editorial Staff

The GM truck assembly plant in Moraine, OH just south of Dayton was well known in Southwestern, OH for turning out millions of vehicles and employing thousands of workers over several decades.

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But when it was slated for shutdown by the company in 2008, as soaring gas prices were at the time hammering sales of large "gas guzzling" vehicles such as those produced at the factory, the Moraine plant became known nationally after an HBO documentary on its closing called "The Last Truck: The Closing of a GM Plant."

While Ohio officials worked hard to find new tenants for the sprawling, 2.5 million square foot complex, such properties are generally a hard sell, and extra so this time because the factory had for years been expanded somewhat piecemeal, to meet specific factory needs, and thus not laid out in a way that might satisfy new prospective buyers.

An Ohio development group has placed seven very small manufacturers in parts of the complex, but nothing major to date.

But miracles do sometimes happen.

In early January, Ohio officials announced that Fuyao Glass Industry Group, a maker of windshields and windows for automobiles, would acquire about 1 million square feet of the facility and make an investment of $200 million at the site in total to get it ready for production.

Ohio officials said it's the largest Chinese investment yet in Ohio, and one of the largest ever in the US. The plant is expected to begin operations late next year, employing about 800 people within three years. The General Motors assembly plant employed 1,100 workers when it closed in late 2008, though as many as 4000 had worked there at one time.

The original factory at the site was opened in 1951 by appliance maker Frigidaire, which GM owned at the time. It was later converted to an auto plant after GM exited the appliance business.

The deal was negotiated with the state's private development arm, JobsOhio, with involvement by local and regional development officials. Details of incentives offered the company have not been finalized and were not immediately disclosed. Ohio said other Midwestern states and some in the South also completed for the locating the operation.

The company said Ohio's location, workforce and business environment were key factors in the decision. Fuyao (pronounced "fwee ow") plans to begin production by June 2015.

(Manufacturing Article Continued Below)