The Art Of R&D - Alan I. Taub, General Motors Research and Development - Brief Article

Automotive Manufacturing & Production, June, 2001 by Gary S. Vasilash

Cadillac's "Art & Science" slogan notwithstanding, advanced science and technology as applied to automotive product and the processes through which those products are developed and produced probably aren't among the top 10 things that come to mind when you think "General Motors." Alan I. Taub wants to change that. He's GM's executive director, Science For GM Research and Development. This means that he's responsible for GM's six science labs in Warren, Michigan. The briefs that these labs have include responsibilities for advanced powertrain; vehicle engineering through advanced computer-aided tools; electronics and information-based vehicle systems; new materials and fabrication processes; and environmental fuels and emissions controls--among other things. He describes his job as "the opportunity of a lifetime."

Dr. Taub [his PhD is in applied physics] joined GM in January '01. Prior to that, he'd been on the other side of town, at Ford, which he joined in '93. While at Ford he was first responsible for the Materials Science Department, then moved over to vehicle crash safety, and then was the program manager for a yet-to-be released Lincoln.

Before Ford, Taub was at General Electric, where he'd spent some 15 years of his career working in R&D on such things as superconductors; he earned 26 patents there.

Taub says that his current mission includes "reinventing industrial research." His personal goal is to make GM's R&D activities "the benchmark for global R&D for the 21st century"--and he means R&D performed by any company, not just automotive companies. The Jack Welch zeal for being at the top comes out when Taub talks.

One of the ways that he thinks GM can reach preeminence in R&D is by creating a global network that consists of a variety of participants, such as the companies that GM has created alliances with [e.g., Fiat], top universities [e.g., with Brown on material modeling; with Stanford on work systems], and national labs.

According to Taub, of the R&D that GM is performing, 30% is "exploratory research," 20% development [things closely tied to the present product), and 50% is innovation [next generation].

As someone who has come to automotive From a place where he worked on everything from aerospace products to medical devices, the question of how the auto industry is perceived From the outside is put to him. He responds, "I really think that there is a misperception that the vehicle is a low-tech, commodity item." In attracting new talent to GM R&D [he talks of a "demographic bubble" that is moving through the ranks of the R&D labs, by which he presumably means that there will be some imminent retirements; he is in the process of hiring new members for the staff], he is working to convince people of the high tech nature of the business. [One reason why the aerospace industry has more of an advanced reputation is, he suggests, based on the fact that many of its developments have been defense-driven.

"This industry is different in its culture," he notes, pointing out that when it comes to new platform, the "magnitude of the bets" is measured in the billions. With no Uncle Sam providing cost-plus contracts, there is an understandable conservatism in some regards.

Although he is understandably reticent to talk about the types of research that is being con ducted ["I come from a patent intensive culture," he says, adding, "As the speed of implementation increases, if you don't protect your intellectual property, you'll lose"], he does say that they're working on "the Next Generation Quality Process." He says that this is "beyond Six Sigma"--a process that GE has used to great advantage.

Taub observes, "Quality is hard, technical work. Attention to detail."

And he seems to be the kind of person who lives it.--GSV