GM To Use Hormel Protein Product
AUSTIN, Minn. (AP) -- The food company that gave the world Spam is teaming up with General Motors Corp. [NYSE:GM - news] to use pork and turkey byproducts to help make car parts.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Hormel Foods Corp. will supply GM with a binding agent made from the animal protein collagen. The binder will be used to form sand molds used for casting metal parts, said Joel Johnson, Hormel's president, chairman and chief executive.
``Who would have guessed that a food product would be used in the production of your automobile's engine block?'' Johnson said at Hormel's annual shareholders meeting Tuesday.
Richard Schreck, GM's principle research scientist said the collagen binder ``GMBond'' helps reduce costs in producing metal parts.
GMBond will be made in Austin, where Hormel is based. Production equipment is being installed and sales will begin ``in the near future,'' Johnson said.
Traditionally, Johnson said, toxic chemicals have been used to bind sand to create molds. The sand they bind is not recyclable, and this presents a ``severe pollution problem,'' he said. GMBond is an alternative to those chemicals.
``General Motors determined that Hormel Foods, with its pork and turkey slaughtering operations, has the best access to raw materials necessary to produce GMBond,'' he said.
For now, Hormel is the sole licensee of GMBond.
Under the Hormel deal, Schreck said, GM's larger casting suppliers may use the GMBond approach.
Richard Schreck, GM's principle research scientist, said the company developed GMBond about 10 years ago. A few years later, it sought to outsource the technology and chose Hormel to distribute the material. GM entered into a licensing agreement with Hormel in 1998.
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