Corvette Assembly Plant Honored by Chamber for Recent Investments

The seventh generation Corvette has received award after award since its unveiling in January 2013.

Now the Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green is sharing the glory, too.

The only plant that manufactures the Corvette earned the Chamber of Commerce’s John B. Holland Business of the Year Award at the annual Targeted Business and Industry Banquet held Thursday at the Knicely Conference Center.

The assembly plant, of course, has been producing Corvettes in Bowling Green since moving there in 1981, but in the past two years, GM has upped the ante considerably with more than $770 million in upgrades. A new $439 million paint shop is under construction, and in June, GM announced it would spend another $293 million to upgrade and modify the plant’s vehicle assembly operations.

Plant Manager Kai Spande noted that 16,000 jobs are created in the region by the nearly 1,000 workers who build Corvettes.

Also, almost 1,000 workers are busy building the new shop. “That’s like a whole new factory for the community,” Spande said.

In addition, 53,738 tourists from around the globe toured the factory, while the neighboring National Corvette Museum greeted 221,000 tourists through its doors.

Keynote speaker for the banquet was Hal Heiner, secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.

He praised Kentucky’s efforts to create more dual college credit opportunities for high school students and urged business leaders to help Gov. Matt Bevin with his “Red Tape Reduction Initiative” to reduce government regulations.

“A high school diploma is not enough. If we are to be the single greatest commonwealth, we must meet the needs of every child,” Heiner said.

Source:
bgdailynews.com

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