Toledo Jeep, GM's Toledo Powertrain, and Dundee engine plants each win national productivity awards, besting Toyota and others
05.06.2008 16:03
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- Source: toledoblade.com
For the first time ever, three Toledo-area auto plants have won their respective divisions for productivity in the highly-respected annual Harbour Report, which measures worker productivity per vehicle.
Chrysler LLC’s Toledo Supplier Park, which builds the iconic Jeep Wrangler, was the most productive vehicle assembly plant in the nation, using 13.57 hours to build a vehicle, besting every other assembly plant in North America, including all of those operated by longtime efficiency leader Toyota Motor Corp. It was the first time the supplier park, which was built in 2004, won its category.
General Motors Corp.’s Toledo Powertrain plant won in the transmission factory category for the second year in a row, despite a strike and an extended shutdown because of a strike by workers against another GM supplier. Workers at the factory on Alexis Road used just 2.37 hours to build one of its four-speed transmissions. The highly-productive plant was recently selected by GM to build its new duel-clutch six-speed transmissions for both front- and rear-wheel drive vehicles.
Also making its debut atop the annual Harbour Report list is the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance engine plant in Dundee, Mich., which is co-owned by Chrysler, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi. Workers there used just 1.84 hours to build an engine, which are used in vehicles around the world.
Overall, Toyota and Chrysler plants used the least labor hours to build a vehicle in North America last year, while worker buyouts helped improve efficiency at GM and Ford Motor Co., the annual study showed.
Toyota and Chrysler averaged 30.37 labor hours to make a vehicle in 2007, according to the Harbour Report, released by New York-based consulting firm Oliver Wyman today. The difference between the most and least productive North American plants among the six major automakers narrowed to 3.5 hours per vehicle, or about $260, from 10.51 hours, or $790, in 2003.
Chrysler, taken over in August by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, showed the biggest improvement, cutting labor hours for each vehicle by 7.7 percent. Even with the gains, GM, Ford and Chrysler are stepping up efforts to pare costs and stem losses as Asian automakers continue to expand U.S. market share.
“It’s a big deal,” said Ray Wood, President of United Auto Workers Local 14, which represents the about 1,800 workers at GM’s Toledo Powertain plant. “Our membership, you put something in front of them, they get it done. We all get that global competition, that you’re competing against everybody.”
Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:lvellequette@theblade.comor 419-724-6091.
Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com
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