Challenge to GM Lordstown: Build upon improvements

Challenge to GM Lordstown:Build upon improvements
There is good news and bad news for one of the Mahoning Valley's largest employers in recently released rankings of productivity at vehicle assembly plants in North America.
The bad news is that the GM Lordstown Assembly Plant has slipped two notches in the subcompact car category of the influential Harbour Report. The good news is that its overall productivity continues to increase.
As the plant's 4,000 hourly workers gear up to launch the sleek new Cobalt model this year, their challenge will be to build upon improvements in productivity and quality, both of which have a direct bearing on the competitiveness of their products and, ultimately, on the future of GM's presence in the Valley.
The Harbour Report rates plants by the number of labor hours needed to assemble a vehicle. The Lordstown plant needed 21.38 hours per car last year, down from 23.02 hours in 2002.
Compare those figures with the 29.56 hours-per-car rating Lordstown received in 1997, and you get solid proof of the dramatic improvements the local workforce has achieved. Or compare Lordstown's 2003 rating to the 33.28 hours it took workers at GM's Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico last year to produce the same Cavalier and Sunfire products, and you get concrete evidence of the superiority of the Valley work force.
Drop in ranking
While it's disappointing that despite such improvements, Lordstown has fallen from second to fourth place in the national rankings, it is certainly no reason for alarm.
First, Lordstown is producing vehicles with designs that are about 10 years old. New designs with fewer parts and more streamlined assembly techniques come with greater built-in efficiency. Second, during much of 2003, Lordstown production of Cavaliers and Sunfires competed for space with a nearly $1 billion renovation project to prepare the plant for the Cobalt launch, an obvious obstacle to optimal efficiency.
The bottom line
This focus on efficiency must continue because it has a direct impact on the bottom line -- vehicle costs. Harbour analysts say labor accounts for 12 percent to 17 percent of a vehicle's price. GM estimates a labor hour costs $78 including wages and benefits. Reducing production time in turn reduces sticker shock.
But in the quest for faster and faster assembly, GM Lordstown cannot afford to scrimp on quality. Another report released earlier this spring by J.D. Power and Associates showed the quality of Lordstown-produced automobiles had increased in 2003 over 2002 as gauged by a reduction in consumer complaints.
Collectively, the improvements in quality and productivity forge a new image of a Mahoning Valley work force that is progressive, cooperative and hard working.
Such traits will be critical cogs to build on recent successes. Clearly this is no time for GM Lordstown management or workers to be satisfied with the status quo. As the first of the Cobalts prepare to roll off the line, we challenge everyone at the Valley GM assembly plant to redouble their efforts to climb higher and higher in the Power and Harbour rankings.
We're confident the work force is more than up to that challenge.