Corvette Production Plant

The C7 Corvette Stingray has been a very successful machine for GM. The American sports car has kept the production plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky very busy.

Over the past four years $135 million has been invested in the plant that builds many of the company’s higher performance machines. GM is getting very serious in upgrading the plant and are investing $439 million into the production facility on top of what has already been done.

For more about the changes made to the Corvette production plant, click past the jump (or scroll down if you came to the full article).

A major part of the upgrades will be the addition of a new 450,000 square-foot paint shop. The size of the new paint facility is half that of the current production plant. Construction will start this summer and will take two years to complete.

The paint shop will be environmentally friendly. Features of the new facility will include:

Dry Scrubber Booth Technology with Limestone Handling System designed to eliminate sludge water and waste

Light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting for process decks for improved visual inspection as well as energy savings

State-of-the-art FANUC robots with Versa-bell 3 electrostatic applicators for an extremely smooth finish and maximum transfer efficiency, saving 25 percent of the paint material used, which also benefits the environment

Longer, high-efficiency baking ovens for exceptional paint finish and lower energy use.

“The Corvette is one of Kentucky’s most-cherished icons,” said. Lt. Gov. Crit Luallen. “Such a significant expansion of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant will help the company remain competitive in the region and around the world.”

Thanks to all of these upgrades 150 current employees will be able to retain their jobs. Keeping people employed is always good news and having them build Corvettes is even better.