The Saturn plant, like other efforts at G.M. to battle foreign competition, became a victim of the company's short attention span.

After a splashy start featuring a public bidding war among the states for the Saturn plant, the project soon came back down to earth.

Such agreements at General Motors' Saturn plant and at Xerox have helped companies cut costs.

G.M.'s Saturn plant uses aspects of this approach.

Some in the crowd came from the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., about an hour away.

The Saturn plant, whose car models are in great demand, was forced to shut because it lacked parts produced at Lordstown.

The Saturn plant makes extensive use of robots.

"They're a group of people who appear to be waiting for General Motors to come to Berkeley to launch a new Saturn plant."

So far, as the Saturn plant gears up, there have been no signs of the historic divisiveness between union workers and managers.

The company last summer lost an important order for an engine-machine line for the General Motors Corporation's new Saturn plant.