Being the best not enough

Ironically, sometimes even being the best isn’t good enough.

However, I don’t think that the workers at General Motors of Canada Ltd.’s Number 2 auto assembly plant in Oshawa, ON, which is scheduled to be closed in 2008, would appreciate the irony involved in their situation.

GM Canada’s Oshawa assembly plant was recently recognized by two major automotive reports: J.D. Power and Associates’ 20th annual study of initial quality and Harbour Consulting’s annual Harbour Report North America 2006 which measures assembly, stamping and powertrain productivity performance by North America automotive manufacturers.

For example, according to J.D. Power’s 2006 report on initial quality, GM’s Number 2 assembly plant produced the highest quality cars in North and South America.

In fact, this is the second year in a row that GM’s Number 2 assembly plant has won J.D. Power’s Gold Plant Quality Award. The Oshawa Number 2 assembly plant currently produces the Pontiac Grand Prix, Buick Lacrosse, and Buick Allure mid-size sedans. J.D. Power’s study is based on responses from 63,607 U.S. owners and lessees of 2006 vehicle models after 90 days. The study found that the Number 2 plant recorded the fewest defects per vehicle among 85 automotive manufacturing operations in North and South America.

The study ranked GM’s Number 2 assembly plant first with an average of 43 defects per 100 vehicles. The Oshawa plant finished ahead of DaimlerChrysler’s minivan plant in Windsor, ON and Toyota’s plant in Georgetown, KY, both of which finished tied for second place with 47 defects per 100 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Harbour Consulting’s annual Harbour Report North America 2006 ranked GM’s Number 2 assembly plant in Oshawa as being the second most productive in North America trailing only Ford’s Atlanta plant. “Among assembly plants, Ford’s Atlanta plant set the benchmark for labor productivity with a measure of 15.37 hours per vehicle, followed closely by GM’s Oshawa, ON Number 2 line.”

Overall, the Harbour Consulting report notes that the labor productivity gap continues to narrow among all North American car makers.

“The manufacturing productivity gap among North American automotive manufacturers is smaller than ever as quality advances are driving productivity improvements and all manufacturers get more from their work force and capital investments,” the report says. The difference between the most and least productive plants in terms of total (assembly, stamping and powertrain) labor hours was 7.33 hours per vehicle (HPV) in 2005, down from 9.08 in 2004 and less than half the 16.56 HPV gap in 1998.

However, while the labor productivity gap is closing amongst the six major manufacturers, there still remains larger gaps in such areas as capacity utilization. For example, the Harbour Report notes that GM is operating at 90% of capacity utilization. “DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM still have a wider variation in capacity utilization among their assembly plants, while they continue to work on plant flexibility. By closing plants in the next two years, Ford and GM will see improvement on capacity utilization.”

It’s just too bad that GM has to close one of the best plants in the western hemisphere to achieve that goal.

Jerry Cook
Editor, MPP
jcook@clbmedia.ca 

Iscar introduces Canadian market to new solutions

Canadian customers and distributors were recently given a comprehensive overview of Oakville, ON-based Iscar Tools Inc.’s extensive line of cutting tools and inserts as well as a sneak preview of new products that the firm will be introducing into the North American market in the near future.

The one-day event attracted an audience of approximately 200 attendees including end users, distributors, and more.

One particularly noteworthy aspect of the event was that Jacob Harpaz, president and chief executive officer of the global Iscar Metalworking Companies (IMC) group, conducted the presentation.

This marked the first occasion that Harpaz had made such a presentation to the Canadian market. Harpaz gave the same presentation at a similar event held in Boucherville, QC.

Harpaz’ presence at the event was also timely in light of the recent acquisition of 80% of IMC’s shares by Berskshire Hathaway Inc. for $4 billion.

“Over the long term, this is very good for IMC. Our goal is to be number one in the market and Warren Buffet (chairman of Berkshire Hathaway) will help us to reach this goal,” says Harpaz.

Improving the productivity of its customers is a continuing focus for Iscar, says Harpaz. “Everyone is looking for productivity improvements and also looking to improve the profitability of their own companies.

“Today, the direction of both the machine tool builders and the cutting tool manufacturers is looking at how to cut production time,” he says.

Continues Harpaz, “The most important part is cost reduction. In terms of cost reduction, Iscar wants to form a partnership (with its customers) working together to solve productivity problems.

“However, it’s not only a partnership in terms of cost reduction but also for continuous upgrading. According to Harpaz, approximately 70% of Iscar’s sales are coming from sales of new products. “Iscar is continuing to grow its base of bringing innovative solutions (to the market).”

In fact, according to Harpaz, approximately 40% of Iscar’s total product line is less than three years old while about 60% of Iscar’s product line has been introduced within the last five years.

The vast number of new products that Iscar continues to introduce into the global marketplace is a result of the firm’s ongoing commitment to research and development, says Harpaz, adding that approximately 10% of Iscar’s total workforce is involved with research and development.

“At the same time, approximately 6% of our total turnover is reinvested back into research and development,” adds Harpaz.

Adds Harpaz, “Today, Iscar is a full line tooling supplier. In Canada, under Iscar Canada, we offer a complete product line for all types of machining applications including turning, grooving, parting off, drilling and holemaking, tooling systems, and more.”

Harpaz presented information on a variety of products from Iscar including the HELiTURN system based on double-sided inserts with four cutting edges under Iscar’s Fast Metal Removal program; new grades for ISOTURN inserts; multifunction tools for drilling milling, internal and external tuning and threading; Iscar INMINI (tools for the miniature and mass production industries; and many more.

Coming in the September issue of
MP&P

Special Features

• Weld Expo Preview

• CNC Machine Tools

• Fabricating/Forming

• Robotics/Automation

• EDM

Regular Departments

• Software Solutions

• Welding Zone

JobBOSS, from Exact Software, is the most widely used job shop software designed specifically for job shops, and custom, high-tech manufacturing shops. It is a job-based system that includes: Quoting, Scheduling, Job Tracking, Costing, Purchasing, Inventory, Shop Floor, Data Collection, Quality, Performance Metrics, CRM and Integrated Accounting.

Visit www.jobboss.com or call 800-777-4334.

Parts Sourcing for Professionals & Engineers Source the right suppliers to produce your parts and assemblies on time and within budget. MfgQuote will instantly match you to qualified suppliers, worldwide. It's the fastest way to go from drawings to finished parts.

Visit MfgQuote at www.mfgquote.com.

OMV software from Renishaw is a verification package for machine tools, which makes simple work of complex probing. It gives 100% confidence that the part you’ve cut conforms to the CAD model from which it was made. By verifying your part on the machine tool, you can save valuable production time – eliminate the wasted time on set-up for rework. Simple graphical reports and on-line results display give an instant indication of the match of your part to the CAD model. Renishaw OMV also features comprehensive best fit and alignment functions to minimise the set-up time required when returning parts to the machine after an off-machine process. For further information please see:- http://www.renishaw.com/client/product/UKEnglish/PGP-1303.shtml