Workers operating multiple drill, General Motors, Rochester Products Division plant

View of workers operating multiple drill machinery at the General Motors Rochester Products Division plant in Rochester, New York. Label on back: "For release after 9 a.m., Tuesday, December 9, 1941. 100 per cent defense work in this GM plant. A complete changeover from automobile equipment to defense production is the record of the General Motors Rochester Products Division in Rochester, N.Y. By January this plant will have attained 100 per cent defense production, taking just a year to accomplish the entire conversion, without any general stoppage of work or major layoffs. Typical of the steps the plant has taken in its conversion process is the multiple drill, shown above, which combines a score of operations into one. The machine drills 20 holes in generator and starting motor 'yokes' on frames. Assembly lines, which only a few months ago were turning out thousands of generators, starters, speedometers, ignition units, shock absorbers and hydraulic brake cylinders for automobiles, now are delivering huge quantities of generators, starting motors, control units, dynamotors and alternators of varying sizes and capacities for Army and Navy training, combat and bombing aircraft and for tanks. The plant is purchasing parts and materials from over 200 firms in 100 cities." Handwritten on back: "Conversion."