I-TEAM: GM to expand Brookville DMAX operations as part of $920 million facility investment
An investment of nearly $1 billion is part of a massive expansion to the Brookville Duramax production plant, General Motors announced Friday.
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The plan calls for a 1.1-million square-foot expansion to the existing plant, which will quadruple the size of the current facility, a GM spokesperson said in a media release. The announcement was part of a news conference Friday at the existing Brookville facility near Arlington Road and I-70.
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The new plant will expand GM and DMAX’s engine production and other powertrain products for the company’s full-size trucks. Details about the products that will be produced in the new facility were not released or discussed Friday.=
“This investment further our commitment to (heavy duty) truck market dominance with the Duramax power under the hood that customers love so much. Additional it is truly a testament to the hard work and dedication of our DMAX team members in the State of Ohio who build world class powertrain products,” Mike Trevorrow, GM Vice President of North American Manufacturing said.
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GM leaders cited strong demand for heavy duty trucks as the reason for the major investment. GM’s heavy duty line of trucks are currently made for the Chevrolet and GMC brands.
“We sold a little over 280,000 heavy duty trucks last year and we have a lot of customers still demanding them. So we’re not sure where the high point of (the demand) is. We’re going to continue to engineer, design, and build vehicles customers want,” Trevorrow said.
Construction of the new addiction to the plant is expected to take multiple years. Trevorrow said 2025 is his hope for completion and opening of a fully operational plant.
The expansion is GM’s third in Ohio within the last year, including an investment in a Toledo operation and an additional investment in a plant in Defiance.
The current Brookville facility opened in 2021 and was the second DMAX building in the area along with the original facility in Moraine.
The current Brookville facility employs about 80 people, however the new expansion will see the facility employ around 800. Previous News Center 7 I-Team reporting uncovered in documents filed with Montgomery County that 714 employees from other facilities, likely the Moraine DMAX site, could be relocated.
However, the expansion in Brookville does not immediately mean the end of the Moraine DMAX operations, Trevorrow said.
“The goal is that this (plant) is going to build a heavy-duty engine, propulsion for our heavy duty trucks. As that happens, the ones we build in Moraine will start to taper down and then the volume for this one will pick up. Its a great opportunity for the people in Moraine to come to Brookville to build the new, and next generation motor for us,” Trevorrow said.
“We’re not announcing anything about Moraine right now. We always take a look at our facilities, where capacity is, and what we might do. So we’ll optimize that when the time comes. But we’re not announcing anything like closing Moraine (DMAX).”
The Moraine DMAX plant has been open since 1999 when it was then a joint venture between GM and Isuzu Motors.
