What sets the new General Motors Silverado apart? It's the first truck built using GM's revolutionary quality control process - a process that is changing the way vehicles are designed and built.
When the first Silverado rolled off the assembly line this year, quality was expected to be excellent. The reason: A revolution in the development process leading up to plant acceleration - the time when GM switches its focus from "pilot" vehicles to actual, salable vehicles. "This new truck has enjoyed the highest level of product and manufacturing process validation in the industry, and in the history of GM." According to Michael Grimaldi, GM vice president and vehicle line executive for full-size trucks, much of the credit for Silverado's high quality can be attributed to GM's world-class truck development campus - the GM Truck Product Center (TPC) in Pontiac, Michigan. One of the facilities on this campus - the Validation Center - played an integral part in ensuring plant quality.
Used solely to validate product assembly and process, the Validation Center is the first of its type in GM history. Formerly Pontiac West Assembly, the Validation Center represents a $103 million investment.
The concept of the Validation Center was to build prototype trucks using production intent tools, processes and people - in essence, working through the actual production process long before job one rolls off the line at any of the three assembly plants scheduled to build the first of the new full-size pickups. Inside the Validation Center, GM built 300 vehicles in under 18 months, with all disciplines evaluating the product and the process - at line speed. According to Grimaldi, "We've duplicated the actual production process in minute detail, right down to the shipping containers."
The Validation Center has allowed GM to pull the problem identification and resolution process forward, compared with the typical development cycle. "From beta to prototype, we made more than 2,000 changes to our manufacturing process," said Grimaldi. "Pretty incredible, considering we haven't even begun to ramp up our plants. Usually in this stage of the game, we wouldn't be able to make any changes at all."
Through intelligent design, creative engineering and thorough validation, Grimaldi expects benefits for both the customer and for GM. By reducing variation and complexity and running common processes at all assembly plants, GM expects higher quality and the ability to change over assembly plants more quickly and efficiently. GM's Oshawa, Ontario Assembly Plant will be the first to begin production, followed by Pontiac East and Ft. Wayne.
Some of the manufacturing benefits of the full-size truck development process include: