The new generation of automotive manufacturing workers at a General Motors Co. subsidiary here is focused on career and environment, and they want to work with cutting-edge technology.
That's part of what attracted many millennials — roughly defined as those born in the 1980s and 1990s — to help create an integral part of the future of the automobile: They're assembling lithium-ion batteries for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in and the equivalent cars the automaker sells in Europe and Australia.
The Brownstown Battery Assembly Plant, in a former warehouse with little to identify it as a GM plant, represents the Detroit automaker's youngest workforce. It is operated by a GM subsidiary, GM Subsystems Manufacturing LLC. And 45 percent of its hourly workforce is composed of 24-to-31-year-olds.