LORDSTOWN ASSEMBLY Body-building bulk: C-Flex will give GM a pumped-up shop

A highlight of a new body shop system is the ability to handle a variety of vehicle models.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Lordstown Assembly Plant will be one of the first places General Motors installs a new body shop system.
Called C-Flex, the system is replacing a previous method that required different equipment for every body style.
C-Flex allows parts such as body panels, floor pans, deck lids, hoods and engine components for different models to be welded with the same set of computer-controlled tools and robots.
GM said Friday that it is reducing the size of its body shops by as much as 150,000 square feet. This and other changes will cut the cost of introducing new models into a body shop by about $100 million.
Why it's better
"The benefits of C-Flex are plants that can build a higher variety of differentiated products at much lower costs," said Gary Cowger, president of GM North America.
GM has used the system in Moraine, Ohio, and Oklahoma City, where it builds midsize sport utility vehicles.
C-Flex is coming next to GM's Lansing Grand River assembly plant in Michigan. That plant is preparing for the launch of the Cadillac SRX luxury SUV next summer.
C-Flex also will be installed at Lordstown and at an Orion, Mich., assembly plant that will make the next generation Pontiac Grand Am.
Work is just getting started on a $550 million renovation of the assembly and fabrication plants at Lordstown. GM plans to begin producing a new small car there by the end of 2004.
Flexible for all models
Officials at United Auto Workers Local 1112 have said GM will make the plant flexible enough to handle other models, although GM hasn't announced any other product besides a small car.
GM said Friday, however, that the C-Flex system comes from its plan to use more of its manufacturing capacity. If plants are fully used, the company can reduce costs and generate higher earnings.
GM said its North American plants are running at about 90 percent of capacity. The company's goal is to increase that to 100 percent by the middle of the decade.
Plants will be more fully used because common manufacturing systems will allow the company to move products between assembly plants based on fluctuations in the market, GM said.
It has designed certain categories of vehicle architectures, such as those for small or large cars. While allowing for a variety of subsystems, interiors and exterior designs, the production system requires that all assembly plants making vehicles in that category be able to produce all vehicles with that architecture.
shilling@vindy.com