Oshawa in Gold Again!

[give_it_all_]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/nat...t.html?ref=rss



A Canadian General Motors auto plant has been honoured again for the quality of the vehicles it produces.

A customer satisfaction and marketing research firm based in California, J.D. Power said the Oshawa plant averages 43 problems for every 100 vehicles produced.

[Recxjake]

they why are they closing it??!!

[Timekeeper]

And the reason for the closure?!

[CHEVYPAS]

GM dont close that plant!

[Quickening]

They aren't actually closing it. THere is Oshawa #1 and Oshawa #2, they are combining them into one plant. More productivity with less people, get rid of all the redudant jobs.

[saturnsteve]

OKC was high on the list too! This is what they do.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by Recxjake

they why are they closing it??!!

I've heard they are consolodating the 2 plants into one.

[XCR440SP]

Don't give the plant too much credit. Many factors affect this. One thing that affects it is making the same car year after year. This tends to let you find any problems and get them fixed (Taurus plant in Atlanta for example). The other thing is a poorly utilized plant where the line isn't running at full speed. You won't have near as many problems when building 50% of capacity compared to running at 100%.

I'd like to see a quality compared to plant utilization to compared real plant quality (I have no clue who would win, but unfortunately I'd bet on Toyota/Honda).

[mikesright]

Originally Posted by XCR440SP

Don't give the plant too much credit. Many factors affect this. One thing that affects it is making the same car year after year. This tends to let you find any problems and get them fixed (Taurus plant in Atlanta for example). The other thing is a poorly utilized plant where the line isn't running at full speed. You won't have near as many problems when building 50% of capacity compared to running at 100%.

I'd like to see a quality compared to plant utilization to compared real plant quality (I have no clue who would win, but unfortunately I'd bet on Toyota/Honda).

This is not an issue of them not changing anything, this takes into account the W-body change AND the process and chaos during the consolidation process. This is a good plant, and is a good bet to produce the new Zeta products. They certainly deserve it. This is a case of great cooperation between mgmt and crew, great problem solving and problem control. Give a little credit where it is due.

[Ming]

In 2006, it expects to make about 275000 Impalas at a plant in Oshawa, Ontario, the only one where the Impala is built.

That's hardly a number to sneeze at (and doesn't count any other W-bodies they make there).

2007 E-85 Impala, here I come!

[mkaresh]

They're closing #2. You cannot consolidate the physical plants, I'm pretty sure they're two separate buildings.

The plant ratings are still based entirely on defect rates.

The IQS scores for models and brands, though, now include "design quality" as well as actual defects. Why JD Power feels the need to combine different things into one score, muddying the waters, instead of just having two separate measures is beyond me.

Unless all they're trying to do is keep the numbers high enough that people will care. If IQS just kept declining it would become a non-issue.

[dindak]

If Camaro goes to Oshawa, it won't close.

[kingprawn]

Originally Posted by XCR440SP

Don't give the plant too much credit. Many factors affect this. One thing that affects it is making the same car year after year. This tends to let you find any problems and get them fixed (Taurus plant in Atlanta for example). The other thing is a poorly utilized plant where the line isn't running at full speed. You won't have near as many problems when building 50% of capacity compared to running at 100%.

I'd like to see a quality compared to plant utilization to compared real plant quality (I have no clue who would win, but unfortunately I'd bet on Toyota/Honda).

Oshawa #2 won the award and builds the Lacrosse and Grand Prix that have been on the market for 2 years and 3 years respectively. As for plant utilization, it runs 2 shifts/day and is one of the most productive plants in North America according to the Harbour Report (with just over 16hrs/vehicle). Everyone at the plant deserves a lot of credit for continuing a tradition of building quality into the products. I think they've had a JD Power award in at least one plant for five years now.

It's too bad that they are closing such a great plant once the current models reach there end of life. Maybe they'll consolidate with plant #1 after the current Impala is done since they do share buildings.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Originally Posted by XCR440SP

Don't give the plant too much credit. Many factors affect this. One thing that affects it is making the same car year after year. This tends to let you find any problems and get them fixed (Taurus plant in Atlanta for example). The other thing is a poorly utilized plant where the line isn't running at full speed. You won't have near as many problems when building 50% of capacity compared to running at 100%.

I'd like to see a quality compared to plant utilization to compared real plant quality (I have no clue who would win, but unfortunately I'd bet on Toyota/Honda).

GM's Oshawa ON complex has ALWAYS got very good quality results, even when they were making the 6000 STE and prolly back when they made Impalas and Parisiennes in the 60's.

[tgagneguam]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

...Unless all they're trying to do is keep the numbers high enough that people will care. If IQS just kept declining it would become a non-issue.

This is how I come to understand the changes. After all, all automakers [with any sense] would be able to target manufacturing processes in order to decrease their defect rates, thus making the differences between automakers closer to insignificant, which I think is happening, if you look at the trend in decreasing rates of defects per vehicle for all automakers. And notice how J.D. Power [conveniently] neglects to include any measure of variance with their scores.

A customer satisfaction and marketing research firm based in California, J.D. Power said the Oshawa plant averages 43 problems for every 100 vehicles produced.

And though I can appreciate internal and external factors that can positively impact defect rates, 43 PPHV is an accomplishment no matter how you look at it.