by Gerald Scott

It’s notable that a significant piece of GM’s 20th century industrial might has not only landed outside of the automaker’s umbrella, but it has prospered in the 25 years since leaving the fold.

This year actually marks 25 years since the former GM Balance Engineering spun out of GM back in 1987 and became a standalone company. Now, BE and its sister firm, DynoTech Driveshafts, together occupy industrial space near the Troy Motor Mall in Troy.

There, Todd E. Fontaine, vice president, Sales & Marketing at Balance and Steve Raymond, general manager of DynoTech, together gave a tour of their facilities and discussed “life after GM.”

Fontaine is old enough to have worked at the company for two years when it was still inside of GM, located south of 12 Mile Road in the industrial area adjacent to the GM Tech Center in Warren.

Fontaine is a fountain of knowledge about Balance Engineering’s larger history.

“In 1923 we were founded by Charles Kettering and we were organized within the Delco group, specifically the Dayton Engineering Labs,” Fontaine said.