Assembly Planbook - July 2008 - (Page GM-6)

(Right) Fisher Body developed the auto industry’s ﬁrst onepiece all-steel roof in the mid1930s. production increased to 28,000 units in 1912. By 1915, Buick assemblers were turning out 150,000 cars per year. Within 4 years, Buick was generating $48 million in sales annually—more than half the money GM earned. Chrysler left GM suddenly in 1919, because he was frustrated by a longrunning feud with Billy Durant, the company’s ﬂamboyant founder and president. A few years later, Chrysler started his own company. to each assembly station. The highlight was the engine line conveyor, which was hailed as the longest in the world. Each six-cylinder engine traveled onehalf mile from the engine plant to the assembly line in an enclosed conveyor. Because of the new line, annual production at the Buick plant was boosted from 170,000 vehicles to 240,000. Circuit, three Cadillac Model K runabouts were driven 10 laps around the banked track. Then, each vehicle was stripped down into a pile of 721 components. The parts were jumbled into a heap and reassembled by a couple of mechanics. The three cars were then driven 500 miles around the track. Use of standardized, interchangeable Photo courtesy Sloan Museum (Top) In 1926, wheels were delivered to three parallel Buick assembly lines via a maze of overhead conveyors. (Bottom) Duco paint helped GM shave 20 percent off the cost of a car body and 5 percent off the total cost of a car. The Buick manufacturing complex in Flint thrived as GM’s most vertically integrated facility. All parts were made in-house, including cap screws, nuts and bolts. In 1926, Buick engineers developed a “uniﬁed assembly line.” It was hailed as the largest and most efﬁcient car assembly system in the world. The goal was to bring all ﬁnal vehicle assembly into one factory, and to connect the supply of parts from the rest of the factories by an intricate system of overhead conveyors. The main assembly ﬂoor had a maze of automated conveyors converging from all angles to bring parts directly Interchangeable Parts General Motors engineers also pioneered the concept of interchangeable parts. In 1909, Durant arranged to have the wooden body of a Buick Model 10 cut in half lengthwise and crosswise. He then tinkered with the chassis, increasing its length and width. The result was christened the Oldsmobile Model 20 and it went into production a few months later. During the Model 20’s ﬁrst year, more than 6,500 units were sold. “Billy had cut Oldsmobile’s lead time and development costs to a fraction of what they would have been if Oldsmobile had tried to develop the car on its own,” says William Pelfrey, author of Billy, Alfred, and General Motors (Amacom). “It was another industry ﬁrst: the use of shared components among different brands.” Just a few months before GM was born, Henry Leland, the founder of Cadillac, received the Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club of England for developing the ﬁrst vehicle equipped with interchangeable parts. At Brooklands Motor parts for various models eventually helped GM grow into an industry giant, thanks to the efforts of Alfred Sloan. While many individuals have led GM over the last century, Sloan is more synonymous with the company than all the others. He served as CEO from 1923 to 1946. Sloan also served as chairman of the board from 1937 to 1956. During that time, GM experienced steady growth and phenomenal market share. When Sloan took over the reins, GM was little known outside of Wall Street, which recognized it as a giant holding company that controlled several nearly autonomous automakers and various parts-making subsidiaries. General Motors was comprised of a dozen car companies that were each managed separately, with a high degree of product overlap. The manufacturing operations of GM’s various divisions essentially had nothing to do with one another. Sloan implemented systematic management and created divisions that were managed objectively from a corporate headquarters. Top management GM - 6 | ASSEMBLY/July 2008 | www.assemblymag.com 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

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.