Charging ahead. Together.

When working on a Michigan EV battery plant megaproject, labor-management cooperation was key to success.

By Mike McConnell • Photos courtesy of Allied Mechanical Services

When Allied Mechanical Services bid to be one of the sheet metal contractors working on a massive EV battery plant in mid-Michigan, company management knew they couldn’t go it alone. The SMACNA member would need to lean on its labor partners to see the project through.

“As soon as we found out about the opportunity, my first call was to our business agent,” says Larry Decker, sheet metal operations manager with the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company.

The project Decker is referring to is known as BlueOval Battery Park. The campus spans 500 acres, anchored by a 2 million-square-foot building that’s almost a mile long. When completed in 2026, the $3 billion factory in Marshall, Michigan, will produce batteries for Ford Motor Co.’s current and future electric vehicles. An estimated 1,700 will work there, making the plant a major job provider for the region. Allied, which is fabricating and installing much of the plant’s ductwork, is one of several SMACNA members working on the BlueOval project. Others involved include Ventcon, H.M. White, S&Z Sheetmetal, McShane Mechanical, Universal Wall Systems Inc., Liberty Sheet Metal, CSE Morse, and Applegate Heating and Air Conditioning.

Rise of the megaproject

The plant is an example of what are commonly called megaprojects. While the US Labor Department officially considers federally funded construction projects budgeted at $35 million or more to be megaprojects, in the private sector the term is often used to describe much larger jobs, pegged at more than a billion dollars. They often take years to complete, generating substantial local economic activity during their development. And in the last five years, they’ve become more common as federal grants help spur development of medical centers, airports, power plants, skyscrapers, military facilities, and stadiums nationwide.

Profitable and high profile

For contractors like Allied, winning such a project offers the chance for years of secure, profitable work. Construction companies that successfully complete massive jobs boost their chances at winning similar future work. However, when tackling these high-profile projects, experience, planning, scheduling, training, and staffing are especially critical. Union contractors that successfully bid on these huge projects say that a cooperative labor-management approach is also vital to succeeding without straining company resources.

In Allied’s case, the company had recently fabricated all of the ductwork for an LG battery plant megaproject in Holland, Michigan, so Decker and other members of management knew what they were getting into. Decker knew he needed to talk to Vance Saunders, a business representative with Local 7, to discuss staffing on the multiyear project.

“We needed to get a good feel for what the workforce availability was from now through the end of this project,” Decker says. “Do we have enough people internally? Do we need to incentivize this project to draw in labor from outside our Local? Are we going to pay over scale? The business agent helps us figure that out.”

Experience matters

It helps that Local 7 has some experience with megaprojects in its coverage area, Saunders says. The union supplied workers for a General Motors Ultium battery plant erected in Lansing, Michigan, about 1 ½ years ago, as well as coordinating with Allied on the Holland battery plant. Plus, the union has been involved in a number of automotive assembly plant projects in the region.

Saunders says an advantage for signatory contractors in Local 7’s coverage area is that the union has increased its membership in recent years by organizing journeypersons, apprentices and preapprentices to work on these megaprojects. “We’ve added quite a few young people to our trade,” he says. “We lucked out on this project in Marshall. Through the NMA (National Maintenance Agreement), we were allowed to use pre-apprentices. They’re working hand-in-hand with our journeymen and learning the day-to-day skills that are required on a project like this and to be a qualified sheet metal worker.”

Too big to staff alone

However, on a project as big as BlueOval, the Local still needed to bring in workers from outside. Lured by the good pay the project offered, SMART brought in about 50 sheet metal workers from states like Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas. Word-of-mouth among workers helped, too. “It’s been pretty much seamless,” Decker says. “Anytime we needed help, our agents were available to supply it.”

According to Doug Bamm, a senior field superintendent with Allied, getting the staff necessary to tackle the project is only part of the battle. “To complete these megaprojects, it takes an entire team, from ownership and business agents, to foremen and apprentices,” Bamm says. “You’ve got to figure out how to put people with people who can make them successful. They all have good skills. (But) not everybody’s skill set is the same. Some do hospitals, some do remodels, some do new builds, and some do mega plants like this. So, to me, it’s getting a core group who can figure it out how to work well together.”

Bamm says he believes that Allied has become a go-to contractor for megaprojects in the region. “The owners are willing to take on the work,” he says. “And I think we’ve got workers who really want to take on this kind of work. We seem to have been able to build on lessons learned and everybody’s still enjoying it. At the end of the day, it’s an amazing feeling to be able to finish one of these things.” 

Michael McConnell’s experience encompasses B2B and B2C copywriting, online journalism, and newspaper reporting. He’s always interested in finding out the stories behind interesting people and projects. Contact him at mrmcconnell36@gmail.com.