Plant prepared, excited for launch of next-gen Cruze

By KALEA HALL

khall@vindy.com

LORDSTOWN

It’s a quiet Friday morning inside the nearly 6 million-square-foot Lordstown General Motors Assembly Plant.

It feels more like a library than GM’s high-volume plant, but instead of books, it smells like a new car is coming.

It is.

Soon, the cars will be rolling along the line in a chaotic, yet organized and noisy fashion. The car being built: the next-generation Chevrolet Cruze.

It’s a car that the plant workers are proud to call theirs. Some visibly display their pride with Cruze shirts, jackets and sweatshirts.

The pride comes with reason. The success of the first-generation Cruze led to sales of more than 3.5 million global units – ‹about 1.5 million were built in Lordstown – and the title of GM’s best-selling car.

The Lordstown plant where 4,500 are employed is the global launch plant for the next-generation Cruze.

“We are really excited,” said Michele Lambert, plant launch operations manager. “Everything is coming together.”

STARTING A JOURNEY

The story of the Lordstown plant and the Cruze begins in 2008 when GM announced it would invest more than $500 million to build the car in Lordstown.

Two years later, the first-generation Cruze launched with the goal of it being a home-run car.

It became just that.

In June 2011, the Cruze became the first American-made vehicle to lead the compact-car segment in five years.

In 2012, the Cruze was named the “Best Compact Car for the Money” by U.S. News & World Report, and in March 2013 the Cruze was in the Top 10 of most-sold passenger vehicles.

In July 2013, the Cruze had its best sales month with 32,871 sales reported.

In 2014, the Cruze had its best sales year with 273,060 sales compared with 2013’s 248,224 sales.

In 2015, the Cruze saw heavy competition from larger vehicles, and sales dropped 17 percent.

SUCCESS AND REINVESTMENT

In 2014, GM announced a $50 million investment into the Lordstown complex to build the next-generation Cruze.

The $50 million went toward upgrades of the plant’s existing press room, which stamps out the car sides, doors and other body parts, and it went toward a new trim shop. The trim shop is the first stop after the painting stage. Everything in the car’s interior from the seats to the steering wheel are installed in the trim shop.

Altogether, about $250 million has been invested in the plant to build the next-generation Cruze.

NEW AND IMPROVED

To help with the launch, a core team of 22 people joined from all areas: stamping, body, trim, chassis, material, quality and maintenance.

All of the preparations have been made to launch production of the next-generation Cruze, which will hit showrooms in the spring.

In the new trim shop at the plant, the orange, yellow and blue colors set off what looks like a playground for cars. It’s a stark contrast from the former trim shop.

This one comes with a more efficient process. Each station is set up with a Lean Material Strategies Cart that has colorful bins filled with the parts the car needs. Before, all of the material was delivered line side to the operator, which made it very labor intensive. The operator stands on the conveyor belt and travels with it. Before, the workers had to walk with the system.

The trim line takes 21⁄2 to three hours.

While building the first-generation Cruze, workers at the plant had to be trained on the new trim shop.

WHERE IT STARTS

The trim shop, though, isn’t where this whole process starts. That would be at the fabrication plant or the West Plant at Lordstown.

That’s where a sheet of metal is stamped and welded into the body of a next-generation Cruze. The fabrication plant has 520 new robots for the new Cruze. It also has a new process called laser braze. This new technology allows for a seamless weld.

More than 31⁄2 miles of conveyor was added for the next-generation production, which allows for continuous operation.

Lordstown is the largest single-line manufacturing facility in the world with more than 23.5 miles of conveyor and 1,200 robots.

“It’s exciting,” said Robert Morales, president of United Auto Workers Local 1714, which represents the fabrication plant workers. “Ultimately, the credit goes to the membership of the past 45 years.”

After the product gets stamped and welded and checked out, it goes to the East Plant to get dipped into a special product before it is sent off to the paint shop. From there the Cruze makes its way through the trim shop and then to the chassis shop where systems such as the brakes are installed.

The next-generation Cruze made its global debut in Detroit in late June.

It’s considered a leading competitor in the compact-car segment with its safety features, enhanced technology and sleek style.

The new Cruze is larger, with 2 inches more in rear legroom. It is 250 pounds lighter to enhance its performance with the 1.4-liter turbocharged engine. The new Cruze is expected to go 0 mph to 60 mph in eight seconds.

Connectivity also is enhanced with the availability of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

As for safety, the new Cruze comes with 10 airbags and crash-avoidance technologies that typically are associated with more-expensive vehicles.

The style of the next-generation Cruze shows influence from the 2014 Impala and the new Malibu. It has a longer, leaner appearance.

Members of the launch team went to Germany for several months to build some of the early Cruzes with other global partners. The next-generation Cruze will be offered in more than 40 global markets this year.

“It makes it the vehicle it was — and then some,” said Glenn Johnson, president of UAW Local 1112, which represents the assembly plant workers.

“If you are in the market for the best small car in the world, give yourself the opportunity to drive a next-generation Chevrolet Cruze.”