Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly

Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles (5 km) from corporate headquarters and has been used for production of Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac products.

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'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. Some of the advances in place included a modular paint system, electric (rather than hydraulic) robots, 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 E-body personal luxury cars manufactured at Poletown were also poorly received and soon cancelled. Cadillac 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 Epsilon platform 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

Products

* 1986–1993 Buick Riviera
* 1986–1992 Oldsmobile Toronado
* 1986–1999 Cadillac Eldorado
* 1986–2003 Cadillac Seville
* 1987–1993 Cadillac Allanté
* 1993–2005 Cadillac Deville
* 2000–2005 Buick LeSabre
* 2002?–2005 Pontiac Bonneville
* 2006–2009Cadillac DTS
* 2006–2009 Buick Lucerne

Planned Production

* 2010–? Chevrolet Volt

ee also

* List of GM factories

References

*cite journal
title=GM goes high-tech in the inner city - Poletown
journal=Ward's Auto World
|issue=June, 1985
author=Scott Miner and Richard L. Waddell
url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3165/is_v21/ai_3798870
format=Dead link|date=May 2008
*cite journal
title=Update: the machines that didn't change the world - robots in the automobile industry
journal=Ward's Auto World
issue=Nov, 1991
author=Drew Winter
url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3165/is_n11_v27/ai_11535771
format=Dead link|date=May 2008
*cite journal
title=Condemn nation
journal=The (Colorado Springs) Gazette
issue=Aug 4, 2004
url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20040804/ai_n10037670
*cite web
title=GM Commits to Volt Production in Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan 2010
url=http://gm-volt.com/2007/09/28/gm-commits-volt-production-in-hamtramck-michigan-2010/
accessdate = 2008-09-22