Chevy Cars, Trucks

A successful launch is also critical to GM retaining its 31% share of the overall U.S. light truck market, keeping it ahead of Ford (close behind at 30.4%), and Chrysler at 24.2%. GM ultimately has seven major assembly plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico that will build the new truck and its many iterations, including, sport-utility vehicles. This year three plants–Oshawa, Ontario, Pontiac East in Pontiac, Michigan and Ft. Wayne, Indiana–will lead me changeover from me old pickup to the new.

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So far, GM has been totally silent on me planned timetable for me assembly plant changeovers and launches. Nor will it discuss how many vehicles’ worm of production will be lost as a result. It is easy to understand the company’s silence, since a number of prior launches were far from stellar.

Remember mat the ‘99 trucks are truly all-new. They’ve got a completely new body, chassis and trim. The assembly plants require mayor changes for these new products. Each facility will have an all-new body shop mat will be in new space and installed early, to allow for certification of all processes before Job 1 production. The trim and chassis lines must also be changed over to recognize me changes to me assembly sequencing.

The new trucks also feature GM’s Gen III ohv V-8 engines, which are redesigned from me block and crank up. This fact, plus many other variables, will complicate me launches, since every supplier is also introducing all-new components and assemblies mat each have to be launched in quantity, with high quality.

Although GM has not commented on the planned changeover and launch times for the plants, they have stated that they will overproduce the present C/K pickup to insure me dealer body does not exhaust its supply. That’s really not a bad idea, since me current trucks have been outselling Ford’s F-Series mat was launched only last year! Surprisingly, sales through March of the old C/K–183,200 units–outpaced Ford’s 177,200 units. That gives GM 40.7% of me U.S. large pickup segment, versus Ford’s 39.4% share. During me same period, Chrysler sold 87,000 Dodge Rams (19.3% share).

GM has had lots of experience changing over plants for new products and then ramping up to full line speed. Some of me changeovers have been superb, such as the Saturn Coupe’s (total changeover time: one day), and Fairfax, Kansas, which lost only 7,500 cars during me latest Pontiac Grand Prix launch. But while these recent launches were magnificent, mere have been disasters, such as Lordstown, Ohio’s, Cavalier/Sunfire launch.

But unlike mat J-car debacle, there are three plants to change over and launch me new pickup in me first year alone. GM cannot afford to take 30 days to change over every C/K assembly plant and lose 20,000 vehicles in me process. Nor can they take 90 days to ramp up each plant to full output and lose another 20,000 trucks.

Hopefully, GM has learned how to changeover and launch an all-new product. But hopes and wishes are not acceptable in the industry today. The changeover and launch process is not an art–it is a science. Enough speculation. We can only sit on the sidelines and see exactly how GM launches its most critical product line.

Jim Harbour is a manufacturing consultant with Harbour and Assoc. in Troy, Michigan.

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