MASSENA, N.Y. — The General Motors Powertrain Massena plant has been selected to produce the aluminum cylinder head for the new in-line 4-cylinder engine being added to GM’s Vortec lineup, officials reported recently. The new engine will power future trucks for the North American market.

The addition of new business to the Massena plant brings with it the need for suppliers to be located near the plant. Christopher Gilmore, president of Godfrey & Wing Inc., says he’s pleased with the construction of his company’s plant in Massena — its first to be located outside of the Cleveland area.

Alfe Heat Treating Inc. will open a new plant in Massena specializing in aluminum heat treating and feature automated batch processing. “In addition to working closely with the Massena facility, our new plant will enable us to expand our service area into the northeastern United States,” says Kurt Westman, president.

The third supplier is CBS Boring & Machine Co. Inc., which is expanding its Michigan based company with its new plant here.

“At a time when the national economy is in the midst of a serious downturn, this announcement represents a major dose of good news for the people of Massena,” says Gov. George E. Pataki. “This deal will help bring new jobs, a $4 million private sector investment and three new manufacturing firms to Upstate New York.”

“Our success with increasing production on a very complex new product program while at the same time making continuous quality improvements laid the strong foundation necessary for the $4 million investment in our plant to accommodate the addition of this new product,” adds John Lancaster, manager of GM’s Massena Plant.

The Massena plant currently produces Ecotec 2.2-liter aluminum cylinder heads and engine blocks used in the Saturn LS, several European applications and GM’s small passenger cars — Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire and Grand Am, Oldsmobile Alero and Saturn VUE. The Vortec I4 engine is derived from the Vortec 4200 I6 engine, which is featured on the 2002 GMC Envoy, Chevrolet TrailBlazer and Oldsmobile Bravada. The in-line family of engines will be manufactured at GM Powertrain’s assembly plants in Tonawanda, N.Y., and Flint, Mich.