• New locomotive plant in Fort Worth, Texas

  • Discussion of General Electric locomotive technology. Current official information can be found here: www.getransportation.com.
Discussion of General Electric locomotive technology. Current official information can be found here: www.getransportation.com.

Moderators: MEC407, AMTK84

  by MEC407
 
Believed by who(m)?
  by GE506
 
The union had a meeting with management Friday. A statement will be released Monday regarding the details. Information regarding that meeting and the coming release say that a layoff is to be announced at that time. The exact number is unknown yet but rumors that this was coming have been spreading like wildfire lately. That is not to say that this is all of a result of Fort Worth but the fact is work from Erie is being done there so in some part it does have an impact in this situation.
  by MEC407
 
Thank you.
  by MEC407
 
Let's continue the "layoffs at Erie" part of the discussion in the "What's next for GE and Erie?" thread. Thanks.
  by MEC407
 
From the Star-Telegram:
Star-Telegram wrote:Production is under way on the first railroad locomotive to be assembled at the new General Electric facility in far north Fort Worth, plant manager Walter Amaya said Wednesday.

"We'll have our first locomotive built by the end of this month," Amaya told about 200 people at a Fort Worth Chamber luncheon. Production of GE's first fuel-efficient Evolution electric-diesel locomotives to be built here began Jan. 2, about two weeks after the city issued a certificate of occupancy.

"Right now the locomotive is ready to start getting through the testing process. It actually looks like a locomotive," Amaya said, adding that employees were eager for the first vehicle to be complete.
Read more at: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/01/16 ... otive.html
  by Ira
 
Can someone post the photo of the new locomotive built in Fort Worth with the 350 or so employees standing in front of it.
  by MEC407
 
Christopher Palmieri posted some photos of the Fort Worth plant, including some shots of BNSF ES44C4s outside the plant:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=88353
  by GEVO
 
According to GE, the first locomotive built at Fort Worth shipped on the 27th of March.

http://www.gereports.com/lone-star-locomotion/
Lone Star Locomotion: First Locomotive Leaves New GE Plant in Texas

March 28, 2013

Who says that work can’t be play? The world’s largest LEGO set, the Taj Mahal, contains some 5,900 pieces in one box. But consider that it takes 210,000 parts from 70 locations and six miles of wiring to assemble a new Evolution Series Tier 3 GE locomotive. The first such train engine built in GE’s new locomotive plant in Fort Worth, Texas, rolled out yesterday.
They also made a video of some of the operations so you can see what it looks like inside the building. Nice clean paint booth and and all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUIYIiZ11Pw
  by mowingman
 
Yes, the beginning of the end for the Erie, Pa plant. I would bet 10 years from now, there will be no locomotives assembled at Erie. Ft. Worth will be building all of them. Good for us down here, but sad for the folks in Erie.
Jeff
  by Ira
 
How many locos are being assembled in a weeks time in Texas? Erie is able to put out 15+ a week. Seems that it will take some time for Texas to match that number per week.
  by GE506
 
Ira wrote:How many locos are being assembled in a weeks time in Texas? Erie is able to put out 15+ a week. Seems that it will take some time for Texas to match that number per week.
It is my understanding that as of right now, they are assembling 3 choo choos a week. I say assembling because that is with us in Erie sending down platforms, trucks, and some other sub assemblies and kits. I keep hearing mixed reports about the plant, engineers are going down and helping and then another report that they will have to work it out on their own. I have no doubt that in time, they will become more proficient in their process. Make no mistake about it though, Fort Worth was never meant to be an "over-flow" plant like Simonelli professed it to be when he said that it would have no impact what so ever on Erie's production. And all of this after record profits were made at the Erie plant in 2012.
  by mowingman
 
Today, it was announced by GE, that 950 jobs are being transfered from Erie to the Ft. Worth plant. The changeovers will begin in Oct. of this year. It is uncertain how many, if any, employees from Erie will go to Ft. Worth. It was stated that GE is in ongoing talks about this with the unions. Of course, Texas is a "right to work" state, so the unions will have no influence on anything down here. They must be talking about severance pay issues on the Erie end.
I hope GE offers transfers to any employees who want to come down here. The affected employees would be making a big mistake if they were offered a chance to transfer, and did not give it serious consideration. Cost of living is cheap here, and no state income taxes.
Jeff
  by Roscoe P. Coaltrain
 
I remember when New England textile manufacturers moved to the non-union southern states. Today, that business has moved on again, to outside the country. Those non-union southern states experienced the same effect that unionized New England did.

Ft Worth is just a factory in a field, no historical connections to the company, just a temporary stop before it all ends up in Brazil anyway.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7384062n" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (the Brazil plant is featured here)

As for Erie, the writing was on the wall back when they stopped assembling locomotives the old way, all individual parts from the ground up, which required 14 days, and got the process down to 5 days by using pre-built sections. Assembly today is just a simple task of connecting the pre-built sections in those 5 days. Such a simple process can be easily relocated anywhere, and they can rely upon a less skilled workforce in other locations to do the 'lego-like assembly". Its also why railroads have less and less choice in options anymore, they all come with the same look, same features, and only the paint is different.

All this dialog of states competing, or failing to compete, with other states is just nonsensical, as the masters of the universe are going to do what they want to do anyway until the global economy crashes and we re-learn (the hard way) that economic compartmentalization originally designed to stabilize all the individual ships wasn't a bad thing after all. Our sidebar discussions comparing standards of living of one part of the country to another will have no affect on their decisions.
  by Ira
 
Is there any information on how production is going in Fort Worth? WE know it will take time to get up to speed. Was told FW should be able to assm 6 to 10 a week in the near future.