Enter the Virtual World

Manufacturing Engineering, Oct 2007 by Waurzyniak, Patrick

Much of the data used in the GM's manufacturing processes is re-used, and changes made to a vehicle or plant. facility are updated in Teamcenter. "With change management, we usually have the problem of a time delay between the design and validation of the part and introduction of the part. on the shop floor," notes Markus Bernhardt, manager, general assembly '. manufacturing, GM IS&S. "You need to ensure that process requirements are met on the shop floor, so there's an intentional delay between design and shop-floor integration, especially in general assembly because you have a lot of options to deal with. It's a tremendous challenge."

Over the past five years, the digital manufacturing and PLM systems have helped cut GM's vehicle development time in half, Klem estimates. "We have the ability to leverage and share workflow change and revisions globally in real-time," he adds. "It's something we've been working on for some time, and that reality is with us now."

Patrick Waurzyniak

Senior Editor