Manufacturing truly matters at General Motors

Automotive Manufacturing & Production,  April, 1997  by Gary S. Vasilash

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The Pontiac plant is one of 13 facilities that comprise the Metal Fabricating Div.; there are 34,000 people who work in the division. Of his three jobs, Spielman says that it takes up most of his time. And little wonder, given that this division is responsible for producing the major sheet metal parts and the dies that produce those parts for all of GM's North American vehicles, with "major" being defined as those components that (1) the customer sees (e.g., body side panels, hood, decklid, roof) or (2) has an effect on the performance of a major component (e.g., the door panel inner is covered with trim, but it has a close relation with the visible door outer and there are a lot of elements attached to the inner, so both inners and outers are produced). These operations consume an enormous amount of sheet metal: Spielman says that if they were to take all of the sheet that they process in one year's time and put it in a strip 1-ft. wide, the strip would circle the equator 37 times.

The hydroformed component for the Corvette is somewhat emblematic of Spielman's approach to the business. That is, each side rail is a replacement for 14 separate pieces that were welded together for the previous-generation Corvette. The new piece functions better and is more efficient from the point of view of manufacturing operations. Similarly, the Metal Fabricating Div., which was formed in October 1994, is a consolidation of what had historically been separate stamping and die management operations among the various GM divisions. By forming a single unit, the corporation is better able to align its resources.

Spielman explains, "Before, everyone had a press shop and everyone did things differently. They had different presses with different controls and had different types of dies. But now we have common processes, systems, practices, and die standards." Spielman says "We've found that if everything is common and something develops that could revolutionize the system, then it is actually easier to make the conversion than if everyone is doing things differently. It frees us up to do things more quickly."

And just as the Corvette hydroformed piece is a reduction from 14 to one, Spielman says that they are making a transition in the Metal Fabricating Div. from 350 press systems to just 170 - "And we will run more iron." This is not a case where GM is going to buy a whole lot of new presses. The change is one that is more organizational than technological. To be sure, older equipment is being rehabbed and retrofitted to bring it up to standard. Fifteen new presses are being brought on line, but Spielman notes that the big driver for the new equipment is the fact that the organization is now doing more full body side stamping, which necessitates some new equipment.

The real key behind getting more output from about half the number of presses is by (1) having rigidly defined process and system standards that everyone understands, and (2) monitoring the presses 24 hours per day. For example, downtime is being minimized because the process makes sure that predictive maintenance is performed on the equipment so that unanticipated failures are less likely, that materials are available when they are needed, and dies are maintained so that when a change is made - and they are driving die change time way down from historical measures - the die works right the first time.

The Metal Fabricating Div. personnel are even working on what are being called "foot printed lines," press lines that will be common from plant to plant. Standard equipment and standard practices mean, for example, that someone might go from the plant in Marion, Indiana, to the Parma, Ohio, plant and be able to operate the equipment.

"Not only have we commonized our die standards across North America," he adds, "we are working with our European operations and our Brazilian operations that make dies so that we will have a world standard." This means that dies will be able to be produced at various sites with the assurance that no matter where it is made, it will meet the same specifications.

A New Era

Spielman is truly a GM veteran. He obtained a degree from the General Motors Institute (GMI; major: mechanical engineering; minor: electrical engineering) in 1968, then went to work for the organization that sponsored him at GMI, the Fisher Body plant in Flint, Michigan. Through the years Spielman has held a number of positions within manufacturing. He notes that once, manufacturing wasn't held in high regard in U.S. auto companies: "For many years, the manufacturing part of the car business was the one that nobody talked about." The designers and the product engineers were the ones who had the high visibility. He notes that by comparison, manufacturing people were thought of as "the dirty old guys in the grease and smoke." Spielman says, "The grease and the smoke are gone."

Manufacturing is of recognized importance at the highest levels of GM. Spielman checks his planning agenda. Rick Wagoner, GM executive vice president and president of North American Operations, will be meeting with the Die Management Group in a few days; Spielman says that Wagoner meets with manufacturing people on a regular basis. Vice chairman Harry Pearce will be meeting with Spielman. Even Jack Smith, chairman, CEO and president of the corporation, is coming in for "an update on dies and stamping." Certainly, that kind of interest is atypical of many companies. Spielman notes that people in manufacturing have always known that customers buy what has actually been manufactured, and that if those products aren't manufactured well, then the fortunes of the company will fall accordingly. GM management is recognizing that, too.