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New Paint Shop Facility On Schedule - NCM Bash Update
During the NCM Bash, I had a chance to sit down one-on-one with Plant Manager Kai Spande following his Paint Shop Update Presentation. While there were many topics that we discussed together, the following is what I learned about the new BGA Paint Shop during Kai's presentation and the subsequent interview. (I plan to write a full report regarding the interview when I have some time to put it together.)
With the recently completed new paint shop at the Flint, Michigan, Truck Assembly Plant, the Bowling Green Plant now has the oldest paint shop of GM's US based plants. For this reason, in May of 2015, GM announced that a new, $439 million paint shop would be constructed at the Bowling Green Assembly. The shop will be approximately 450,000 square feet, which is more than double the size of the current BGA paint shop. The new paint shop will be operational late summer, 2017.
One of the principles that Kai Spande operates by is "no invention on the critical path." This has helped keep a massive project on schedule. Of course, they continue to do some level of simultaneous engineering as opportunities introduce themselves to do things better along the path.
"The number one concern that we had three years ago was with paint. It is not the number one concern that we have now. The mass of issues has gone significantly down." Kai stated. With regard to the quality of the the new paint, Kai gave us an important reminder that we're never going to have perfect paint in a mass produced vehicle. However, his expectation is that "we have a step function in the overall appearance of the Corvette." When I asked Kai about the impact of the new paint shop on the Corvette brand image, Kai responded, "I believe this is going to draw customers that may not have considered the Corvette in the past into the game."
The transition from the current paint shop to the new paint shop will take much of the 2018 model year. 2017 paint colors that have been selected to continue as color options for the 2018 Corvette will be called "Legacy Colors." Initially, all 2018 Corvettes painted in the "Legacy Colors" options will continue to be painted in the old paint shop. The "new for 2018" colors are the colors that will be painted in the new paint shop, signaling the beginning of the transition from the old shop to the new one. As the transition continues during the 2018 model year, the "Legacy Colors" will eventually be transferred to the new shop. There is no set timeline for the completion of the transfer, but the goal is to complete the transition as quickly as possible. By the end of the 2018 model year production, all 2018 Corvette colors will be handled by the new paint shop.
While some have asked about custom color options in the future, no plans are currently being made to provide this option for the simple reason that several parts are painted before they ever come to the plant, including targa tops and front and rear fascias.
The new paint shop has been designed specifically to optimize the performance of the Carbon Fiber and SMC Substrates that are used in the Corvette body panels. As a result, customers can expect to see an improved pain appearance and finish enabled by:
- State of the art FANUC robots with Versa-Bell 3 electrostatic applicators for a smooth finish from improved fluid control.
- A multi-step fluid application process made possible by additional robots and spray booths.
- Longer baking ovens to allow for optimized paint flow and drying times.
- State of the art air filtration and monitoring equipment to establish a clean room level environment throughout the shop to restrict dirt from reaching the vehicle surface.
Along with the new tooling and robots, the pain shop will be equipped with the latest advanced environmental controls to minimize the ecological footprint:
- Dry Scrubber Booth Technology utilizing limestone to eliminate sludge water waste stream and provide a highly recyclable byproduct.
- Electrostatic spray applicators for maximum transfer efficiency that will reduce paint usage by 25%.
- Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting for process decks for energy savings and improved visual inspection.
- High-efficiency baking ovens with lower process temperature paints for reduced energy consumption.
New Paint Shop Impact to Economy
- To date, 250,000 local man-hours have gone into building the new paint shop.
- It is estimated that 1,000,000 man-hours will be required to complete the project.
- They are using local building trades primarily from Louisville, KY, and Nashville, TN.
- All cement used in the project was from a local supplier.
- All of the steel was manufactured in Alabama.
- The robots, booths, ovens, and washers are all being assembled in Michigan.
- The proprietary Dry Scrub System is coming from Germany.
Thanks for the update Jag. The later availability of the legacy colors definitely affects my purchase timeline. It appears that legacy "black" probably wouldn't be available until the 2018 calander year. I need a new car and don't really want to take a chance on one painted in the current shop.
Great post, jag. This will bring the BG facility up to world class standards and hopefully will improve the paint quality of the Corvette to at least as good as other plants with similar facilities.
Great post, jag. This will bring the BG facility up to world class standards and hopefully will improve the paint quality of the Corvette to at least as good as other plants with similar facilities.
Take a look at the escalade. Should expect similar paint quality.
I'm actually quite happy with the paint on my 2016 versus my 2008.
The quality has defiantly improved, and I think GM actually tried to figure out how to get better paint (because like seats they got torn a new one constantly about it on the C6).
The biggest thing I heard about the paint shop during my NCM tour was that it would allow for near instant switchover between colors. Today they batch build the cars by color because the process to change the nozzles out and clean them is quite intensive.
I'm actually quite happy with the paint on my 2016 versus my 2008.
The biggest thing I heard about the paint shop during my NCM tour was that it would allow for near instant switchover between colors. Today they batch build the cars by color because the process to change the nozzles out and clean them is quite intensive.
Thanks. I don't remember hearing about the quicker change over time between colors, but it makes sense. When I toured the factory last April I didn't see any black C7s coming down the line. The only black one I saw was off to the side, but it did have a really nice paint job compared to the earlier C7s I've seen.
I think the biggest changes in paint quality will come from the following upgrades:
- State of the art FANUC robots with Versa-Bell 3 electrostatic applicators for a smooth finish from improved fluid control.
- Longer baking ovens to allow for optimized paint flow and drying times.
It's interesting the top carbon panels are usually much slicker than the SMC side panels. I'm hoping the sides will be at least as slick as the top panels coming out of the new shop.
Thanks for the update Jag. The later availability of the legacy colors definitely affects my purchase timeline. It appears that legacy "black" probably wouldn't be available until the 2018 calander year. I need a new car and don't really want to take a chance on one painted in the current shop.
I'd erase the comment about the current process if I could, but yes, about 95% serious. I've seen paint that looked acceptable and some that didn't along with reading posts about problems and GM's response that it is within spec. I'm not looking for a perfect paint job and don't expect it, but I also don't want to have paint correction done to the sides of a new car. If I wanted a white car it wouldn't be an issue, but I'm a fan of black cars and OP is magnified in this color.
05-01-2016, 01:10 AM
New Paint Shop Facility On Schedule - NCM Bash Update
The later availability of the legacy colors definitely affects my purchase timeline. It appears that legacy "black" probably wouldn't be available until the 2018 calander year. I need a new car and don't really want to take a chance on one painted in the current shop. 
Great post, jag. This will bring the BG facility up to world class standards and hopefully will improve the paint quality of the Corvette to at least as good as other plants with similar facilities.
