GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Back on its feet after its IPO, and GM is now beginning to put its money where it’s most needed. One place in particular the company thinks it needs to expand is in the production of small engines.

Earlier this week GM announced it would be investing an additional $162 million in three of its facilities; Flint engines, Bay City components, and Defiance castings.  The lion’s share of $138.3 million will go to the Flint, Michigan engine operations plant where 135 jobs will be retained.

GM is investing all this money in the Flint facility because it is where the engine critical to three vehicles that are the core of GM’s future will be built.  This engine is the 4-cylinder 1.4 L ecotec model that serves both as the generator for the Chevy Volt and in a turbo-charged form for the Chevrolet Cruze compact car.

With the announcement GM also disclosed this engine will serve in a future Chevrolet small car the company apparently hasn’t yet unveiled.

“This is the replacement for the Aveo,” GM spokesperson Pat Morrissey told GM-Volt. “It will be built at the Orion plant.”

Unnamed and unseen, we still don’t know when we will find out more about this car.  It is not the Spark that one time GM had planned for US launch.  ”We have not discussed reveal timing for this product,” said Morrissey.

GM’s investment in the engine is good news for fans of the Volt and other fuel efficient cars.

“This investment is essential in ensuring we can meet the expected high demand for the Chevrolet Volt, Chevrolet Cruze and a small car that will be produced at our Orion Township facility,” said Kathleen Dilworth, Flint Engine Operations plant manager. “These three facilities will continue to play a key role in GM’s resurgence and efforts to bring to market vehicles with segment-leading fuel economy.”

Engines for the Volts currently being built are being imported from Austria.  By early 2011 GM expects to build 400 engines per day in Flint and that will increase to 800 engines per day by then end of that year.  This new investment allows for the possibility of building 1200 engines per day in 2012.

Source (GM)

The Detroit Hamtramck (DHAM) plant where the Chevy Volt is being built has been busy turning out cars for some time.  Initially these were known as validation builds but eventually evolved to saleable builds, meaning they are as final as consumer production cars will be.

For a while these saleable build have been used as captured test fleet cars, initially for GM employees and most recently for me and other members of the Volt advisory board.

Reports are surfacing from Chevrolet dealers, however, that GM has already begun to produce cars that are going to actual consumers.

A report in the Detroit Free Press notes that a Volt allocated to a customer of Puente Hills Chevrolet was completed on November 9th.  Henna Chevrolet in Austin, Texas reports that one of their customer’s cars was built on November 10th.

DHAM Plant manager Teri Quigley declined to say how many customer cars have already been built.  GM initially planned to have the Volt launch ceremony on November 11th which was changed to November 30th based on the timing of the IPO.  This suggests that true consumer cars are being made, but that GM won’t announce it until the launch ceremony.

In fact I have noticed my own Chevrolet Volt order is showing up as code 3800 on the Chevrolet tracking site, has a VIN number, and is described as having been built on November 9th and awaiting shipment.

Besides only waiting for the launch ceremony, EPA labeling may be another  hold up on shipping.  GM’s VP Tom Stephens told Automotive News the Volts won’t be shipped until the EPA label arrives.  Those labels are actually finally expected to come “any day,” he said.

After the announcement of the big three car of the year awards, it is likely Volt demand will continue to skyrocket.  Stephens confirmed demand is already shaping up to far exceed capacity.  ”What do you hope for if you’re in the manufacturing business?” Stephens said. “To always have more demand than you can supply. They always say that’s a good problem to have. That’s the problem that we have right now.”

He even confirmed earlier reports that GM has already asked LG Chem to increase lithium-ion cell production so as to supply more cells than initially were planned.

GM’s chief of marketing Joel Ewanick also told reporters just how quickly demand is growing.  He said the number of Volt handraisers Chevrolet has signed up now exceeds 220,000, up from about 70,000 in the late summer, and he points out aggressive marketing and advertising hasn’t even begun.

What we longstanding supporters have long known is finally coming true.  GM has a huge hit on their hands, and a great way for the country to start reducing petroleum consumption.  In fact in my first 9 days of driving the Volt I have covered 568.1 miles, and used only 3.22 gallons of gas, for a total fuel economy of 176 mpg.  And the driving of this car is more splendorous, refined and limitless than I could have ever imagined.

Source (Detroit Free Press), (Automotive News), and (Reuters)

Job 1 is the name given to the first Chevy Volt that will roll off the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly line, destined for consumer purchase.

Though not distinctly different than any of the previous dozens or even hundreds of pre-production cars coming off the line before it, this vehicle has profound symbolic implications.  It shall represent the culminative effort of more than four years of intensive development that occurred despite all the odds against it.

It will also be a great reward for all the effort we here have poured into cheering the company into building the car ever since those early days in 2007.

Previously it was reported that GM scheduled Job 1 to be built on November 11.  In fact, as long ago as mid-2009 GM executives confirmed it would be a day in mid November that the first consumer Volt would be built.

According to CNBC reporter Phil LeBeau, however, the plans have just been changed, something I was able to confirm with GM sources.

Instead of November 11th, Job 1 will roll on November 30th.  As expected, GM is planning a launch ceremony for this very special event, and inability for certain guests to attend is actually the reason for the change in plans.  It’s not that the car won’t be ready before then, it’s that executives who need to be there will be involved in the pre-IPO “road show” where they go around selling investors on the company.

“The executives will be on the road show between the 3rd and the 17th,” said Phil LeBeau. “And that road show is far more important than going out and doing a dog and pony show for the Chevy Volt.”

The new GM’s IPO is obviously very important, and in fact it’s success may be directly proportional to how many future electrified vehicles GM can develop.  To accommodate the road show, the launch ceremeny has been rescheduled to take place on November 30th.  And still, amazingly, GM will live up to its promise of 2007 that the car would go into production in November 2010. Some first early launch market consumers should still be able to pick up their cars in mid to late December.  But don’t expect too many.

“There’s been no change in our production plans,” says GM spokesperson Rob Peterson. “They are the same as what we’ve stated since early 2007 – production begins in November.”

Source (CNBC).  See Video Below:

Thanks to Brian E. for the tip!

One thing us enthusiasts hope for is high demand and production of the Chevrolet Volt.

The exact planned number had been in flux for a number of years, but in the Summer Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle announced GM would produce 10,000 Volts in 2011, and 30,000 in 2012.  Shortly after that the 2012 number was upwardly revised to 45,000 reportedly based on demand.

At this point GM says Volt orders are coming in “hot and heavy.”  DiSalle also advised me in personal communication that GM already has 150,000 handraisers for the car, not including the 50+ thousand on this website.  He noted GM was “hearing from dealers that many have significantly more demand than allocation.”

At the recent Volt media launch, vehicle line director Doug Parks has further revised the numbers.

He said GM would be building between 10,000 and 15,000 Volts in 2011, and likely will build to the maximum capacity of 60,000 in 2012. This number realigns with the old projections Bob Lutz used to give.

Parks concedes maybe even that won’t be enough.  “Starting in ’12, we’ll be at this max rate of 60,000,” Parks said.  “If we think this thing is crazy higher volume than we thought, we have the ability to increase volume and crank that up.” GM’s Browstown battery plant where the packs are produced is believed to be expandable to at least 100,000 units annually, if not more. Supplier LG Chem has substantial cell capacity in Korea and is already building a Michigan plant which will go into operation next year.

Parks did note that 5000 cars from the 2011 production run will be exported to Canada and other countries like China.

He also acknowledged the high initial price of the Volt is a barrier to mass adoption, and that many people who would wan’t the car couldn’t afford it. The $7500 tax credit and superb $350 per month lease price will help, but GM does plan to get costs down in time.

“Our business model for the Volt is not finalized yet,” he said. “We need to continue to make that (price) better as we go forward.”

Source (Detroit News)

I had the following discussion with Teri Quigley who is the manager of the DHAM assembly plant where the Chevrolet Volt is being produced.

How many actual people are there working on Volts directly?
We’ve got a total of 1100 employees in the plant. Whether they’re directly hand on on the Volt or they’re maintenance guys and gals that keep the conveyor running or the paint equipment going, everybody has some level of involvement.

That’s the total employees?
Currently, yes

That must be a very large facility?
It’s 3.6 million square feet. We’re on 365 acres. We’ve got a huge footprint and we’re looking to get ourselves back to a capacity that warrants the size of our facility. We’re hoping that the Volt is going to be a significant piece of that.

What is the actual total capacity of the plant in vehicles per year?
We don’t get into what the capacity of our plants are.

How about a generic car plant that big?
A plant that’s my size of you’re running at three shifts and the targeted job rate is 60 jobs per hour, then it becomes just math. 250,000 cars per year without overtime. You flex that depending on demand. So I’m tooled up for a rate right now and with additional people or equipment or any of those kinds of levers, then I can change the volume. But we want to respond to actual marketplace demand.

That’s how you maneuver your output lever, its either an addition of people so you can run the track faster or so you can increase the throughput or speed of a zone to get more through it, or you add a shift. Those are the levers we use to either maximize or throttle back production volumes.

A car a minute is the maximum capacity of the modern day automotive plant then?
That’s about the target, we’ve run facilities faster and we’ve run facilities significantly slower. When you’re trying to net 60 jobs per hour, you’ve put in the system, we want the ability for people to get the job done properly in station, and you’ve got to account for there’s going to be some stops in the process, conveyors are going to break down, etc. When your looking at 60 jobs per hour a person’s cap time or workcycle time is nominally about 48 or 50 seconds. That’s when you’re really rolling. GM’s got a couple of factories that are at that rate right now, and we’re looking to get more of them at that rate.

So the idea of the Volt being built at 10,000 cars per year is a obviously a fairly low rate for the plant?
Yes.

So you have a lot of room to increase that down the road then if the demand materializes?
Exactly. Hamtramck is a one shift operation currently. With our ability to change linespeeds and shifts, Hamtramck is not anywhere near what it is capable of building, but we foresee down the road that being the case.

So you always see DHAM as being the place Volt will be build for as far as you can foresee?
Until were told otherwise, we’re the home of the Volt.

So if the day comes where you need 250,000 Volts per year they could all be built there in theory?
That’s right. With the right level of people and equipment and the marketplace demand that says there’s an appetite for that, then you’re right, we’d be happy to do that for the consumer.

Will in Detroit I toured the massive plant. A highlight of the tour was watching the welding robots rapidly place 285 welds on a Volt body in less than one minute. Check out my video of that  below:

Teri Quigley is the manager of the DHAM assemble plant in Detroit where the Volt is being built. At present over 100 pre-production and 40 salable Volts have been built there, gradually moving toward the first retail car in November.

I had the following discussion with Ms. Quigley

Are there other cars being built at that plant besides the Volt?
Yes we build the Cadillac DTS and the Buick Lucerne

Would you say there is any difference in building a Volt versus a conventional car?
It’s a yes and a no. Obviously sheet metal still goes together like sheet metal for a car. We’ve got different zones for what we would call the swing metal. The doors,the deck lid, the liftgate in the case of the Volt. Hoods and so forth are in discrete zones of the body shop but then they’re all merged on the same car track line through the body shop. They go into the paint shop on the same conveyor and are painted. With this first version of Volts it is a two-tone application and you’ve seen that with the black roof on the cars. Then the cars do progress into general assembly all on the same line.

The major difference is what’s underneath the Volt and so the whole battery marriage and the body marriage is a little bit different but once you get beyond that..the engine compartment is very tight, you’ve got three different heating and cooling systems for the battery pack alone so significantly more hoses and harnesses and what not. Then you get to that point where you’re putting door pads in, your putting interior trim in, your putting wheels and tires on just like any other car.

The components coming in are more unique?
Yeah definitely the components are unique and for us and for our workforce. I give them all this credit, the cars being built today are already pretty highly contented cars in terms of all the options that you can get on a Cadillac or Buick, and so for us the Volt is an incremental step up in technology, but its not a leap for my workforce, they’re pretty accustomed to handling this degree of contented car.

Cars seem incredibly complex and in need of such precision so thousands of pieces can be put together to run properly, how can you orchestrate this to be done so precisely?
What we do with that, and it goes under the GM global manufacturing system, and you’ll hear the term GMS. Its kind of like the Toyota production system, and the key for us being able to build a car repeatable is documented standardized work.

At every workstation out in the shop, each workstation has a job book. It identifies, for example if I’m putting on a door window regulator on the front door, it identifies pretty descriptive things that you have to do to do that correctly to do that safely, and do to it most efficiently so that the customer’s getting a good car.

Standardized work is the tool that we use to ensure that we’ve got the process documented and then training, training, training of the workforce. As I’ve mentioned, went we got into those very slow builds, that’s huge enabler for us. I put folks onto the launch team very early , they were involved in the tech center with the pre-production operations so I had a handful of folks there that helped produce every single car that went through that very early stage.

I had 10 or 12 guys, gals and engineers there just knowing that this car was going to go together differently , and the way you do that is by engaging and involving the people up front. That’s how you start to generate the documentation of the standardized work, you know when you are building it there at PPO, and you build a station and manually move the car and build the next stations, they’re actually able to take the photographs and here’s the order to do this in to help create these job books that I mentioned.

It almost sounds like an instruction manual that you get when you have to assemble something at home.
Exactly.

I’ts been said many times that “GM has to get this car right”, would you say that there are any specifically different quality controls going into building Volt versus other conventional cars?
I would say for sure there is a heightened level of that sense of this thing has got to be right and I would say every person in my plant feels that intensity to a degree. We’ve put in extra intermediate inspection stations, because the car does get buttoned up so tightly, I have to make sure we get it done right before it goes on to the next phase of the build.

We’ve actually added three additional inspection stations to insure that’s all buttoned up before you can’t see it anymore. It’s a layered build, so we put the batteries in and the shields are up, you don’t want to find out after that that something was misrouted.

There’s tender loving care. We’ve had a lot of visibility at the plant which really generates a lot of energy for my team, so that also helps too. Because you know the world is watching, my team has heard me say that a thousand times. We know its important to the company. Its certainly not the only egg we’ve got in the basket, GM has lots of cars coming out, but the world’s watching this one a little differently.

So that trickles down to the people on the line, that sense of purpose that they’re participating in something very important for our world?
Absolutely, the enthusiasm for making history is palpable here.