Assembly Planbook - July 2008 - (Page GM-23)

in Spring Hill. It was also the company’s ﬁrst plant built in the 21st century. Unlike other GM plants, the ﬂexible facility was capable of building cars and trucks simultaneously. It also served as a showcase for the latest lean manufacturing practices gleaned from GM facilities overseas. When it opened, GM executives predicted that the new Lansing plant would be 20 percent to 30 percent more efﬁcient in assembling vehicles than traditional plants. “This is the most signiﬁcant auto industry plant in the last 25 years,” proclaimed an article in the April 2002 issue of ASSEMBLY. “It’s as state of the art as anything you’ll ﬁnd in the world. With its emphasis on lean and agile manufacturing, Lansing Grand River represents a paradigm change in the industry.” During the previous 15 years, GM invested heavily in assembly plants overseas. Lansing Grand River was based on lessons learned from facilities in Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Poland and Thailand. It featured a fast and ﬂexible production system that could easily respond to ever-changing marketplace demand. The facility was built on the site of 19 demolished buildings that were among the original, 100-year-old Oldsmobile complex. It was approximately one-half the size of the plants constructed during GM’s building spree in the 1980s. For instance, the facility used 1.9 million square feet vs. 3.5 million square feet for the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that opened in 1985. The $560 million Lansing Grand River plant also cost about half as much as similar-sized manufacturing facilities. Because it was built differently than older plants, it could pay for itself in only 15 years. Unlike traditional car plants, which are typically housed under one roof, Lansing Grand River consists of three separate buildings—a body shop, a paint shop and a general assembly building—connected by conveyors. The T-shaped plant conﬁguration allowed architects and engineers to create multiple loading docks on all sides of the plant to facilitate just-intime parts delivery from off-site suppliers. It also emphasizes the role of assembly, body and paint as discrete and highly focused business units. The buildings were shrink-wrapped around the various manufacturing processes. That conﬁguration allows for efﬁcient material ﬂow and provides an optimum layout for operators. In addition, Lansing Grand River incorporated a wide variety of advanced manufacturing processes and assembly techniques to speed product ﬂow, improve quality and reduce time to market. The general assembly building is extremely bright, with extra wide aisles and high ceilings. There are very few forklift trucks, but scores of automated guided vehicles. Overhead electronic boards monitor the production heartbeat of the facility. Nothing is stacked more than 5 feet high to maintain a clear line of vision throughout the plant. Lansing Grand River was also the ﬁrst GM facility to use the company’s programmable adaptable assembly system in full production. The timesaving system is programmed to adjust to different body styles, such as cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles, from job to job on the same line. When it opened, the body shop boasted of having 338 programmable welding robots that apply 2,163 welds per vehicle. Today, the Lansing Grand River plant assembles the Cadillac CTS, SRX and STS. í More than 50 percent of the assembly operations at Spring Hill were done on skillets. Lansing Grand River served as a showcase for the latest lean production practices gleaned from GM facilities overseas. In the late 1990s, GM embarked on “Project Yellowstone,” which focused on modular assembly. The goal was to build a new plant in Lordstown, OH, that would be based on the recently opened Blue Macaw small-car facility in Gravatai, Brazil. Under Project Yellowstone, many GM plants in the United States would only focus on the ﬁnal assembly of vehicles, with suppliers building modular subassemblies, such as suspension systems. Some assembly plants would be staffed by suppliers, who would also have played a key role in product development. “Modular wouldn’t just mean modiﬁcation changes to an existing structure of production, but a radical change in the entire way that vehicles were put together,” claimed Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union. Another plan called for extensive use of information technology similar to Dell Computer’s successful buildon-demand concept. For instance, cameras would be installed on assembly lines to allow customers to see their vehicles being built. Labor unions were appalled by Project Yellowstone and threatened to strike. That quickly put an end to the modular assembly concept. But, the Brazilian plant that inspired it is still going strong. www.assemblymag.com | July 2008/ASSEMBLY | GM - 23 http://www.assemblymag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Assembly Planbook - July 2008

Assembly Planbook - July 2008 Contents Editorial Quality in Assembly Station to Station Assembly Lines Assembly in Action Surviving the Roller Coaster The Human Side of Manufacturing Do Your Fasteners Need a Preapplied Thread-Locker? Manufacturing Innovation A Century of Progress Trendsetting Plants Pulse Tools Get Smart Plastics: Design for X Product Reviews Products Advertisers Index Classified Leading Lean

Assembly Planbook - July 2008

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