GM capacity
11-28-2018, 08:33 AM
#1
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GM capacity
In the news today........
ABANDONMENT ISSUES
GM executives have said they do not intend to abandon cars to the extent that Ford and FCA have. GM car plants that will remain open include Fairfax, Kansas, which builds the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 compact SUV. But that plant is operating at 48 percent of capacity, well below the 80 percent that GM Chief Executive Mary Barra is targeting as the average for North America.
A GM plant in Lansing, Michigan, that builds the Cadillac ATS and CTS and Chevrolet Camaro is running at just 33 percent capacity, while the GM Orion Township, Michigan, facility that builds the Chevrolet Bolt electric car and the Chevrolet Sonic subcompact runs at 34 percent capacity. A Bowling Green, Kentucky, plant that builds the Chevrolet Corvette sports car works at just 27 percent of its potential output, according to LMC data.
"Until GM gets more flexibility in its platforms, it will continue to have to play whack-a-mole with its plants as the market transitions - and it will happen again," said LMC analyst Bill Rinna.
ABANDONMENT ISSUES
GM executives have said they do not intend to abandon cars to the extent that Ford and FCA have. GM car plants that will remain open include Fairfax, Kansas, which builds the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 compact SUV. But that plant is operating at 48 percent of capacity, well below the 80 percent that GM Chief Executive Mary Barra is targeting as the average for North America.
A GM plant in Lansing, Michigan, that builds the Cadillac ATS and CTS and Chevrolet Camaro is running at just 33 percent capacity, while the GM Orion Township, Michigan, facility that builds the Chevrolet Bolt electric car and the Chevrolet Sonic subcompact runs at 34 percent capacity. A Bowling Green, Kentucky, plant that builds the Chevrolet Corvette sports car works at just 27 percent of its potential output, according to LMC data.
"Until GM gets more flexibility in its platforms, it will continue to have to play whack-a-mole with its plants as the market transitions - and it will happen again," said LMC analyst Bill Rinna.
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11-29-2018, 07:53 AM
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I guess I’m not laughing! Companies respond to us we make these things happen. We buy SUVs sedans die.
We go to Amazon Sears dies.
I had my first experience replacing a lifetime tool at Home Depot this week, much harder then craftsman walk in walk out service.
Some customer service benefits in the old days were worth the price, get what you pay for.
We go to Amazon Sears dies.
I had my first experience replacing a lifetime tool at Home Depot this week, much harder then craftsman walk in walk out service.
Some customer service benefits in the old days were worth the price, get what you pay for.
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11-29-2018, 07:57 AM
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I guess I’m not laughing! Companies respond to us we make these things happen. We buy SUVs sedans die.
We go to Amazon Sears dies.
I had my first experience replacing a lifetime tool at Home Depot this week, much harder then craftsman walk in walk out service.
Some customer service benefits in the old days were worth the price, get what you pay for.
We go to Amazon Sears dies.
I had my first experience replacing a lifetime tool at Home Depot this week, much harder then craftsman walk in walk out service.
Some customer service benefits in the old days were worth the price, get what you pay for.
11-29-2018, 09:00 AM
#5
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
27% of capacity for BG is close to 1/4 of full output. It IS winter for half the country, but still....that might idle 25%.
I'm not sure the LMC person is correct re platforms. It seems more to do with very large corporations being able to turn quickly, or eliminate products and whole product lines swiftly. This has to factor in human resource management, i.e., layoffs, continuing salaries/wages/benefits, cost of idling all or partial physical plant and then restart costs, etc. These are the (relatively) good times for the U.S. and some believe it's better to act now than wait for the worst of times.
I'm not sure the LMC person is correct re platforms. It seems more to do with very large corporations being able to turn quickly, or eliminate products and whole product lines swiftly. This has to factor in human resource management, i.e., layoffs, continuing salaries/wages/benefits, cost of idling all or partial physical plant and then restart costs, etc. These are the (relatively) good times for the U.S. and some believe it's better to act now than wait for the worst of times.
11-29-2018, 09:10 AM
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St. Jude Donor '15-'16,'18
Plants operating at less than 75% capacity is troublesome. Ms. Barra is doing what any good CEO should do; make tough but decisive decisions to maximize efficiency and profits. GM has to do this in order to survive. If the C8 doesn't sell, Corvette may go the way of Saturn, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Time will tell.
11-29-2018, 09:11 AM
#7
Moderator
I guess I’m not laughing! Companies respond to us we make these things happen. We buy SUVs sedans die.
We go to Amazon Sears dies.
I had my first experience replacing a lifetime tool at Home Depot this week, much harder then craftsman walk in walk out service.
Some customer service benefits in the old days were worth the price, get what you pay for.
We go to Amazon Sears dies.
I had my first experience replacing a lifetime tool at Home Depot this week, much harder then craftsman walk in walk out service.
Some customer service benefits in the old days were worth the price, get what you pay for.
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11-29-2018, 12:10 PM
#8
Drifting
I know this is not the current situation for GM but in the near future many more factory job will disappear due to artificial intelligence and robotics. The car companies that will do the best will probably have the most AI and robots which says that the unskilled labor force will have more and more unemployment. These are the people that will be voting for socialism because socialism is more or less a free handouts to unskilled people. Once socialism becomes a reality the incentive to get a skill and/or an education will disappear for the majority of young people (why even work if life possible without any effort) . The world is changing very fast right now and we need to think how to solve many problems that are becoming more and more obvious. Man has always been a predator faced with doing to survive I don't want us to become herbivores and just feed on the handouts.
Wow, I really I really did go off didn't I
Wow, I really I really did go off didn't I
11-29-2018, 12:50 PM
#9
Drifting
I think Cadillac is getting ready to introduce a new sedan (CT4) to replace the ATS and CTS early next year. But with both the XTS and CT6 getting canned that will only leave them one sedan to market. I understand Cadillac is also working on a smaller SUV (XT3) as well. Doesn't look like they'll have a sedan in the bigger luxury segment, at least in the near future. I'm surprised they decided to dump the CT6 because that was just introduce a couple of years ago.
11-29-2018, 01:43 PM
#10
BG operating at 27% capacity simply means that there is very little demand, at this point in time, for the 2019 C7 Corvette. Come next summer when production of the 2020 ME C8 Corvette begins, BG will be at 100% capacity for quite some time.
11-29-2018, 07:34 PM
#11
Race Director
No one bothers to define the terms we are using. What is “capacity”? And is that different from maximum capacity?
i would that that a plants capacity is the maximum that it is capable of producing. That would be three shifts a day, seven days a week (with some break time for maintenance). So if one shift is producing 33 - 35,000 units, then max capacity would be around 100,000 units. No way the Vette will ever sell that many. If you figure 100k as capacity then I would agree that they are at 27% of capacity.
i would that that a plants capacity is the maximum that it is capable of producing. That would be three shifts a day, seven days a week (with some break time for maintenance). So if one shift is producing 33 - 35,000 units, then max capacity would be around 100,000 units. No way the Vette will ever sell that many. If you figure 100k as capacity then I would agree that they are at 27% of capacity.
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11-30-2018, 12:32 PM
#12
Drifting
No one bothers to define the terms we are using. What is “capacity”? And is that different from maximum capacity?
i would that that a plants capacity is the maximum that it is capable of producing. That would be three shifts a day, seven days a week (with some break time for maintenance). So if one shift is producing 33 - 35,000 units, then max capacity would be around 100,000 units. No way the Vette will ever sell that many. If you figure 100k as capacity then I would agree that they are at 27% of capacity.
i would that that a plants capacity is the maximum that it is capable of producing. That would be three shifts a day, seven days a week (with some break time for maintenance). So if one shift is producing 33 - 35,000 units, then max capacity would be around 100,000 units. No way the Vette will ever sell that many. If you figure 100k as capacity then I would agree that they are at 27% of capacity.
Last edited by LawrenceFromTorrance; 11-30-2018 at 12:33 PM.
11-30-2018, 10:30 PM
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I know this is not the current situation for GM but in the near future many more factory job will disappear due to artificial intelligence and robotics. The car companies that will do the best will probably have the most AI and robots which says that the unskilled labor force will have more and more unemployment. These are the people that will be voting for socialism because socialism is more or less a free handouts to unskilled people. Once socialism becomes a reality the incentive to get a skill and/or an education will disappear for the majority of young people (why even work if life possible without any effort) . The world is changing very fast right now and we need to think how to solve many problems that are becoming more and more obvious. Man has always been a predator faced with doing to survive I don't want us to become herbivores and just feed on the handouts.
Wow, I really I really did go off didn't I
Wow, I really I really did go off didn't I
Bill
12-01-2018, 12:27 AM
#14
Race Director
No one bothers to define the terms we are using. What is “capacity”? And is that different from maximum capacity?
i would that that a plants capacity is the maximum that it is capable of producing. That would be three shifts a day, seven days a week (with some break time for maintenance). So if one shift is producing 33 - 35,000 units, then max capacity would be around 100,000 units. No way the Vette will ever sell that many. If you figure 100k as capacity then I would agree that they are at 27% of capacity.
i would that that a plants capacity is the maximum that it is capable of producing. That would be three shifts a day, seven days a week (with some break time for maintenance). So if one shift is producing 33 - 35,000 units, then max capacity would be around 100,000 units. No way the Vette will ever sell that many. If you figure 100k as capacity then I would agree that they are at 27% of capacity.
Look what is happening to Harley Davidson to see what would happen once the demand is over supplied...
12-01-2018, 07:04 AM
#15
I don't believe 3 shifts are practical. Full capacity would be 2 x 10 hour shifts. There is time needed for shift changeover, and for maintenance. At least this is how Ford in Oakville were running when I visited.
12-01-2018, 08:07 AM
#16
Melting Slicks
For the Bowling Green plant, full capacity is twelve 10 hour shifts per week, but many plants can and do run three 8 hours shifts, also 6 days per week. Currently at BG they are running five 8 hour shifts per week with the line at reduced flow speed.
12-01-2018, 10:50 AM
#19
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St. Jude Donor '15-'16,'18
The BG Assembly Plant can build C8s and the Cadillac ME car to meet the demand and then when it slacks off they can build a midsize CUV/SUV with a Corvette or Cadillac high performance engine to keep the plant running at a profitable pace.
12-01-2018, 11:05 AM
#20
Drifting
The lines are fairly automated already. GM learned the sad lesson of trying to use robots in every job 30 years ago. Nobody except Tesla has repeated that learning experience and now Tesla has verified the lessons learned back then. There are some jobs that are best done by robots and some that are best done by thinking, opinioned and flawed human beings.
Bill
Bill