Harsco Rail Reopens Plant in Pere Marquette Township

Courtesy of Harsco Rail

PERE MARQUETTE TWP., Mich. – Harsco Rail has reopened its refurbished plant in Pere Marquette Township on South Jackson Road.

Ludington Daily News reports Harsco Rail has reopened its refurbished plant in Pere Marquette Township on South Jackson Road. Harsco Rail President, Claus Heuschmid and VP of Human Relations, Chuck Hughley were both present to celebrate. 

“There were two key drivers (in reopening the plant). . . No. 1 was to have additional capacity for completing these machines and the second one was obviously competency of people we have here in Ludington. Since the team here built the previous generation of stone blowers for Network Rail, we thought it would be ideal to use people that know what they do and what they have done. Much more sophisticated with what they do, but in principle, they’re doing the same thing,” said Heuschmid. 

Having opened in Spring of this year, the plant fulfills “a contract of building stone blowers for Network Rail in the United Kingdom,” and the contract “calls for assembling 11 of the stone throwers in the next two years.”

Harsco Rail President Heuschmid went on to say that it is “highly sophisticated,” and that “it’s probably one of the most highly sophisticated rail maintenance machines in the world that you’re building here. . . I’m also very happy and proud with the reopening of this facility that we’re offering a home to many of our employees that have been working from home for a period of two to three years. And obviously (I’m) even more happy that we were able to rehire more people and offer jobs for people who have served us in the past.”

When asked about future work, Heuschmid responded that Harsco Rail’s “intention is to create a future (project). If you were to ask what it is, we don’t know what it is. . . It really depends on the project situation and load. I think we came to understand the skills of the team here and we can certainly look for the right project to bring up here. That’s what we will consider. We obviously first need to see things are happening and are working well. . . There’s a lot of remodeling here in this facility, a lot of investment, that would be sunk if we did not use it. Clearly, we have the interest, but we will only plan in probably the next 12 months what the future will be.”

Heuschmid went on to maintain a strong demand for Harsco Rail products, and that the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 should spur on demand” as well. “It causes multibillion government funds into several industries but also in the rail industry which we expect to help us with additional demand for next years,” said Heuschmid.

According to the report, a negotiation may have taken place between Harsco Rail and UAW Local No. 811. Amanda Attridge, Director of Global Quality, United Auto Workers Local No. 811 President Janet Shinsky (who were both also present at the reopening), and Hughley made remarks on the process. 

Hughley is quoted as saying “it was tough. There was a bad feeling about how we left the area at the time. . . The team was very vocal about that. It was important for them to be vocal and share some of that history going into jobs. The union had to be on board with going back to shoe members. . . They’re here to stay. That showed a high level of trust in us. . . It’s a completely new leadership team, management team than previous. The team was aware of that. I think that helped to make a difference. It was one of the toughest negotiations I have been a part of.” In addition, Hughley made references to cities that “suffered after automakers shuttered their plants there,” and how it was important that he understood that workers may have experienced similar suffering in 2019 when the Ludington plant closed.

UAW Local No. 811 President Janet Shinsky commented on the reopening that “I thought, they’re pulling our leg. It was true (about reopening). First order of business was to get busy and get a contract going. . . We put a lot of time in. It was just before Memorial Day in ’22 and we went to Nov. 2, and we got a contract.” She thanked the UAW for their help, and continued: “As long as we get the right parts at the right time, we’re up to the challenge of getting the stone blowers done.” These stone blowers “blow new stone on railheads after the old stone is cleared away.”

During the reopening, guests ventured to the rail yard to observe a prototype, which was constructed in South Carolina, but it “didn’t quite meet the requirements of Network Rail and now is something that will be similar to the end product coming out of Ludington.” The assembly of these stone blowers “will be done inside the large factory bays,” and the assembly process for just one machine could take months to complete. 

UAW-represented floor workers rejoined Harsco Rail with engineering, design, and sales employees “from when the plant initially shut down in early 2019.” When the plant then, production of tampers moved to a South Carolina plant, but not all the employees followed suit. Instead, about 30 employees stayed in Ludington, and the pandemic happened, resulting in work-from-home before moving to the Ludington Industrial Park. The decision to reopen that plant required a lot of work in order for the building to be suitable. 

“If you consider that, it’s certainly a few millions that we spent here. We obviously could have leveraged in out Columbia (South Carolina) facility. . . The pure capital investment to bring this site back to work, I really can’t say,” said Heuschmid. According to the report, the company was looking to bring in 45-50 union workers to build stone blowers, and as of now, “it currently has about 23 of those employees in place.”

Heuschmid went on to say that he likes it “when there’s a history of a business and people can talk about being in business 100-plus years. . . You also see that reflecting into the commitment these companies have against communities and their employees and other stakeholders. It reflects on the customer relationships that you see in these organizations. . . now, looking back, the organization took a bad decision to close this facility at that time. . . I think now, for us considering what Chuck said in his speech, it was a moving moment – and for him more because he knows the area and he’s connected to Michigan more than I am – I think we were pretty excited to bring that back and maybe, to some degree, fix some of the pain our organization has caused to these people and this area.”

Amanda Attridge echoed Heuschmid’s comments and reiterated: “This facility means a lot to me, and I’m just honored to be able to participate in reopening it, bringing our former union members back to work and giving opportunities in the community.”