River Works

River Works, formerly known as Air Force Plant 29, is a plant of General Electric's aviation division located in Lynn, Massachusetts. It is serviced by the River Works station on the MBTA's Newburyport/Rockport Line. It was purchased by General Electric in 1983 from the United States Air Force.

River Works
River Works, the factory to the north and of the marsh
Built1943
LocationLynn, Massachusetts
Coordinates

History

The plant is situated along the Saugus River, along railroad tracks. The factory was built in 1943 as a supercharger facility, and helped to build the first jet engine during World War II. Activities performed at the plant originally included aircraft engine testing, disassembly, lubricating, cleaning and assembly. Operations included, degreasing, electrochemical grinding, engine maintenance, metal washing, parts cleaning and stress fracture testing.[1] From 1968 to 1972, the ‘Pilot Program’ was introduced. Faced with rising tensions on the shop floor, bottle-necks in production and low-quality products, GE management tried a scheme of workers’ control of production in one area of the plant. Immediate results in increased output and machine utilisation, and a reduction on manufacturing losses but was eventually terminated by the management.[2] The plant had operations boosted in the late 1980s after General Electric decided to close the General Electric Everett Plant and move operations there.[3]

References
  1. "IRP Phase I Air Force Plants Nos 28+29" (PDF). Air Force Engineering Services Center. June 1984. p. 27. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  2. Noble, David (1984). Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. pp. 292–322.
  3. "GE may close plant". Nashua Telegraph. 22 February 1988. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.