Buick City Focuses on Customers and Flexibility It Pays to Be Particular at This GM Plant in Flint, MI, Where Every Employee Is a Customer
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Midwestern Region Buick City Focuses on Customers and Flexibility It pays to be particular at this GM plant in Flint, MI, where every employee is a customer. Lea Tonkin How do we error proof! How do we DuCharme continued. "It takes fleXibility departmental needs. A team coordina keep defects from getting to the cus in the assembly center, the product, and tor (TC - one per department per shift) tomet? Clusteted in teams, Buick City -most of all - the people." works with approXimately 15-18 line people focus on these problem-solving FAD "flexes" Oldsmobile 88 pro operators to improve processes. TCs are questions early and often. They're do duction with a plant in Wentzville, MO, elected by team members. When the ing what would have seemed unthink for example, and is the sole producer of teams meet weekly for a half-hour, the able five years ago: crossing functional the Buick LeSabre. The product mix is line is stopped. Operators can stop the boundaries and assuming direct re 70 percent LeSabre and 30 percent Olds line for defined quality problems. sponsibility for eliminating quality 88. Level scheduling keeps production As teams assume more responsibil problems. stable at 65 jobs per hour without sig ity for quality, management continues Boundary-jumping pays: J.D. Power nificant overtime. to adjUSt. Management layers shrank & Associates' Initial Quality Survey ranked They've Cut Down Shutdowns from seven to five. Fab (fabrication), the Buick LeSabre produced at Buick Body, Paint, Trim, Chassis, Maintenance, City as the most trouble-free car built in Buick City people also strive to and Team Leader superintendents report the United States for the 1989 and 1990 avoid line stoppages during model to Herman Maas, production manager. model years. Repairs dropped 65 per changeovers. In 1990, the plant went Foremen report to the superintendents cent in the 1990 model year, compared down for a two-week model change. and work with operators. to 1986. For the same period, warranty "But we introduced our 1991 models Product engineers and process en costs per car dropped 57 percent. Customer into the production system before we gineers work together, eliminating tra surveys at two months of ownership went down," DuCharme said. "This way ditional manufacturability problems. show 50 percent fewer reported prob we exercise the system, so we can learn Antonio Otero, manufacturing engineer lems in 1990 than in 1987. from building the new 1991 model be ing and quality director, spelled out fore we build out the old 1990 mode\." "Flamewolk tOl Gleatness" Buick City "voice of the customer" ini Why shut down the lines at all? tiatives: focus on customer problems, Ed DuCharme, manufacturing man Tooling for 1992 models was installed quick response to engineering prob ager of Flint Automotive Division (FAD), during the two-week hiatus. FAD aims lems, warranty feedback, responsive part of the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac for a "rolling" model change, or what ness to marketing division concerns, Group of General Motors (GM), outlined GM calls "concurrent build." It's now dealer Visits, etc. GM's "framework for greatness" goals in available on minor changes. four areas: best in quality, lowest in Meantime, product flexibility is en Synchlonous Manutactuli", cost, fastest to market, and customer hanced through standardization of many Buick City bills itself as a "shining satisfaction leadership. GM empowers common components in Buick LeSabre example" of synchronous manufactur each division to develop strategies within and Olds 88 models. While their ap ing. This production system targets the this framework. Two specifics at FAD, pearance, ride, and handling may differ, elimination of waste. It means getting DuCharme said: flexible manufacturing components can be built at either Buick the customer the right part, the right and synchronous organization. City or Wentzville. quantity, at the right time, at the least "Flexible manufacturing allows us Flexible Teamwolk, Responsibility cost, at the desired quality at every step to respond qUickly to change by being Shifts of the production process. Among sys flexible in product design, manufactur tem elements noted by DuCharme and ing processes, facilities, equipment design, Hourly teams tailor GM's "whatever Plant Manager Tim Lee: tooling, capacity utilization, and people," it takes" quality focus to their own 47 Spring 1991 Event Reports AlIT materials system. Material is delivered no more than 300 About Buick City feet from where it will be used. Buick More than 5000 people work in the stamping and car assembly operations at Buick City has 86 dock spots. Aflow-through City, Flint, MI producing Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile 88 Royale autos. Ap terminal for LTL shipments, about a proximately 260,000 cars roll off the Buick City assembly lines each year. There's half-mile from the plant, eventually may more than 2.6 million sq. ft. of space under roof. be eliminated. Buick City material is The Buick City concept, begun by a study team in 1982 and approved by renewed at lineside every four hours; General Motors in January 1983, transformed half-century-old manufacturing plants. The team-including representatives of United Auto Workers 599-called inventory turns more than 100 times for more than new computer-controlled operations. Problem-solving teams, annually. Car order sequencing, single greater employee involvement in quality performance, aJIT materials system, and sourcing, direct supplier contact when other changes were afoot. defective parts are provided (supplier By the time the "new" $350 million plant opened in September 1985. quality performance is ranked), and other employees were well acquainted with the Buick City operating philosophy: "Buick efforts were cited by Dave Cimino, ma City combined stamping and car assembly is committed to common goals which terial director. will enhance our lives, community, and the products we build. We will create and Lot sizing. maintain an operating environment which recognizes, respects, and utilizes the Receiving material in small lots improves potential of all employees to achieve world-wide leadership in automotive assembly." quality - any problems are revealed early. lem solved (at least seven weeks' reso in plant work areas. Data collection, in Containerization. lution)? If not, return to step one. process monitoring, and other checks About 95 percent of all IOcomlOg pallS Operators, maintenance, and man are evaluated daily. containers are returnable. They're de agement met regularly to reduce defects Buick City people are moving ahead signed to prevent part damage and pro in side molding studs installed in 'Zone on other fronts: vide inventory visibility at a glance. 21' of the Body Shop, for example. • Employee involvement in new model Thanks to communications with Chassis planning is increasing. For example, Six-St.p Problem Solrlng (Zone 45) where moldings are put on, UAWskilled and production people Buick City people shine in quality problems are being eliminated. Team worked with the 1992 model design improvements through a six-step prob members were recognized in a celebra team on design and buildability of lem solVing process. The idea is to tion steak dinner, and each member vehicles. They rtaveled to other plants eliminate problems before they're passed received a "Quality, Whatever It Takes" for first-hand information on new along to internal customers, and ul T-shirt. products, parts, and processes. timately, to the car buyer, according to Another example: Paint team mem • An Automated Vehicle Identifica John Jones, Paint Shop TC coordinator. bers eliminated brace burrs caused by a tion (AV!) tag for each car indicates 'When we identify a problem, such as in spot weld flash. The burrs caused prob body style, trim, color, and other fascia robots (automated fascia painting lems for employees who installed sealer selections, eliminating confusion as operation), we will talk with electricians, under the front wheelhouse. Paint and chassies, etc. zip along 15.2 miles pipefiners, sprayers - whoever is involved Body Shop employees from the weld of conveyor chain. in the process, and ask them to be on line, grinding booth, and laydown side our problem-solving team,' Jones said. frame areas worked out a solution: a No SIlIItII' Bulltlt The six steps, in four phases: redesigned brace. An SPC specialist also There are 'no silver bullets' to Cbeck Pbase: aided their successful project. guarantee survival - whether Buick 1. Identify and select a problem; select City will weather market scrunching, as Eraluatlng Improrements a goal. What went wrong? Ed DuCharme noted. 'It's difficult to 2. Analyze the problem. Electrical Systems' Greg Shimko, unlearn behaviors that made us suc quality growth engineer, noted the use Plan Pbase: cessful in the past,' he said. Buick City'S of SPC and other tools for monitoring 3. Generate potential solutions. best assurance: intense customer focus, quality progress. 'When we check for 4. Select and plan solutions. flexibility, and improvement efforts in defects, we want to trace any problems every facet of the business. Do Pbase: back to the source, to make sure that the 5. Implement solution. problem cannot happen again," he said. Lea Tonkin is Target managing editor. Cbeck Pbase: Daily and weekly audit reviews are posted 6. Evaluate the solution. Was the prob- 48 Target.