Validation Center speeds-up GMT800 launch - General Motors' Truck Validation Center

Automotive Industries, Feb, 1998 by Gerry Kobe

GM Management says up-front work done at the Truck Validation Center should out the launch time for its now pickup truck in half.

There is a confidence surrounding the launch of the 1999 GMT800 pickup that hasn't oozed out of General Motors in years. This one could come off without a hitch.

Michael Grimaldi, GM vice president and vehicle line executive for full-size truck, says there have been no surprises so far with the program, and he doesn't expect any big problems at startup either. "We have very aggressive production and acceleration plans for our (three initial) plants," he says. Program sources say GM is targeting a 16 week ramp-up, although the company does not release its launch strategy

Even more amazing, GM has scheduled only three weeks for changeover, says Jerry Imboden, head of manufacturing on the new truck program. "It's outstanding when you consider the level of work" he boasts. "This vehicle builds differently than the previous truck. This isn't just changeover, it's strip out the plants and redo them."

The driving force behind their optimism is GM s new Thick Validation Center, which checks out every manufacturing process before it is installed in an assembly plant. It also helps make certain procedures are common across GM's plant network

However, not everyone is convinced it will work.

"If they can do changeover in three weeks, more power to them," says Maryann Keller, managing director at brokerage firm Furman Selz. "The questions are, what constitutes a launch? And when will these vehicles run down the line at 60 units an hour?" Grimaldi's response was predictable. "I'm not going to talk about that," he said. "But we're sure we can stick to our schedule."

Former Truck Plant

Housed in the previously shuttered Pontiac truck plant, GM's Truck Validation Center is just down the road from its Pontiac, Mich.-based truck headquarters. The Center is a 750,000 square foot assembly-plant-turned-prototype-shop that went online in April 1996. GM invested a little over $100 million to make the necessary conversions, and roughly an additional $10 million to purchase general assembly tooling that is production intent.

Marty MacDonald, director of the Validation Center and veteran of GM's former validation facility in Flint, Mich., says the difference between the old and new way of doing things is like night and day. "Under the old approach we would always get to pilot and identify a bunch of issues that hadn't come up in prototype," he laments. "We'd find things we never saw before."

He says part of the problem was that prototypes were being built at different sites, some under the direction of product engineering and some under manufacturing engineering with input from the plants. "Sometimes the root cause was that we had a design change, or maybe we didn't build enough, or maybe we just missed it," he admits. "But one thing that came up again and again was that we didn't build the property at fine rate, and it just wasn't a structured process."

Recognizing a need to improve and create common procedures, GM started writing an assembly process validation plan in 1992 that was a mirror of the process the product engineers used at the proving grounds. It was a rigorous, structured and consistent procedure to assure the assembly process was workable. At first the company tried out the idea at its Moraine, Ohio, plant, which builds the S-Truck (the Chevy Blazer, GMC Jimmy and Olds Bravada). But trying to validate a new product while building the old one proved so disruptive that a dedicated validation facility emerged.

A Mini-Plant

MacDonald says the Center is a "mini-factory" with the same carriers, tooling, racking, conveyors, framing stations, and so on as the vehicle's assembly plant The presentation is the same for operators, stations use identical assist devices and there is even a factory representative body merge station. The only things different about the c assembly lines versus the factory's are the length and a manual weld body shop.

"In a plant you might have 100 workable jobs in chassis, 130 in trim and 50 on final," MacDonald offers. "I've got eight workable jobs in each. To run the convey or at line rate and set up the operations as they will be done at the plant takes about four hours for each station. We do three vehicles in a row at line rate and then we shut down and back up the conveyor." He says a total of 353 workstations were validated in this manner for the pickup truck program, with 10 or 12 remaining operations done outside of the center because they could be easily done at the factory

Occasionally, a plant gets approval from management to deviate from common process because investment to make it common is too high. Such was the case with GM's Oshawa, Ontario, facility, the only truck plant to use automatic guided vehicles (AGVs). To validate Oshawa, the center brought AGVs in and actually built prototypes on those vehicles.

Obviously, a lot of advance planning is required because of the accelerated schedule the Validation Center must meet. For example, MacDonald says his team begins building product at the Beta-build (preprototype) stage, which is about two years before pilot, or two and one-half years before regular production. Moreover, the Center's engineering organization works with the program team a year ahead of that to make sure the facility is modified to replicate plant conditions.