GM, HP Partner To Expand Automaker's IT

General Motors and HP Team Up on IT Transformation

Multi-year agreement includes project services, software

GM Tech Center-Warren, MI

DETROIT and PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors and Hewlett-Packard Co. announced today new multi-year project services and software contracts that will accelerate GM's ongoing IT transformation efforts and deliver seamless, global services and products throughout the automaker's operations. 

These agreements provide GM a cost-neutral solution in which 3,000 HP employees already working on GM's business will transition to the auto company's employment rolls.

"These agreements with HP will enable us to accelerate the progress of our IT transformation by delivering increased innovation and speed of delivery to our GM business partners, and reduce the cost of ongoing IT operations," said GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott. "Transforming our internal IT operations will give us the resources, tools and flexibility we need to provide better services and products to our global GM customers." 

As previously announced, GM is moving from a highly out-sourced to a largely in-sourced business model, changing the mix so more employees are focused on innovation rather than operations. As part of this, GM has announced new IT innovation centers in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Mich., with the locations of two more centers yet to be announced. 

"GM is an automotive icon and HP values the strategic partnership we have had for more than two decades," said Mike Nefkens, HP acting Global Enterprise Services leader. "We look forward to helping GM deliver even greater products and services to market."

GM also has purchased HP's industry leading IT Performance Suite, Enterprise Security Suite, Vertica and Autonomy Software, all of which will further accelerate the transformation of applications development, support, and high-performance operations computing capabilities.

"GM needed a solution to provide confidence, insight and agility to perform better," said George Kadifa, executive vice president, HP Software.  "They didn't need to look any further than HP's Performance Suite and are the first customer to purchase the full suite of software to enable their business."

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Author’s note: This is the latest chapter in the renaissance of General Motors. The most important part of this announcement is that GM is hiring internally, rather than outsourcing. This should be great news for everyone in Detroit, Michigan, the Great Lakes region, in fact the entire U.S.

Insourcing and reshoring are two trends that  I’ll have more on in the days ahead, as I head into the final production stage of my next book, Manufacturing Renaissance.

I would also like to invite you to check out Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community. Medical device manufacturing plays a large role in the first book to focus on Grand Rapids, Michigan and its Medical Mile. 

Last Chance Mile is available at Schuler Books & Music in downtown Grand Rapids and on 28^th Street in Kentwood, at the Abbott Press online bookstore and at www.rodkackley.com

Hot Chrysler Cars: Automaker Finds Its Way

For those of us, like me, who got our licenses in the mid-1970s, just in time for the collapse of Motor City design and really the beginning of the collapse of the Detroit Three, the new designs are a real breath of fresh air.
Chrysler will be showing off some very hot cars in Las Vegas: This time, we are all hoping that what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas.

When the 2012 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show takes place in Las Vegas, Oct. 30 – Nov. 2, enthusiasts will see 24 "Moparized" Chrysler Group LLC vehicles on display at the ultimate aftermarket show.

Jeep Wrangler Sand Trooper

The Dune-in-Matte color, four-door Jeep Wrangler serves as a showpiece for the company's new portfolio of high-end, hard-core Jeep performance parts.

The Sand Trooper is powered by the new 5.7-liter HEMI® V-8 conversion kit. The conversion kit pumps out 375 horsepower and 410 lb-ft. of torque. Paired with the power of the HEMI are front and rear portal axles, providing an extra 5 inches of lift to boost ground clearance capabilities.

Dodge Charger Juiced

Imagine a modern-day take on a custom street rod, mated with an emissions-friendly powerplant and a bountiful array of Mopar parts and accessories which demonstrate what the average owner can create. That's the Dodge Charger Juiced.

SRT Viper

The new 2013 SRT Viper isn't just the ultimate super car. It's also the ultimate super car for accessories and performance parts, thanks to Viper owners who love to customize their Snake. The "Moparized" 2013 SRT Viper is a showcase for what may be done with a little imagination and a lot of Mopar products.

Fiat 500 Beach Cruise

A playful take on the West Coast car customizer vibe, with a unique and entertaining surf motif, is the aim of the Fiat 500 Beach Cruiser. The unique charcoal, matte-finish grey Fiat 500 features a widened body (by a foot for both the front and rear) with old school-style fender flares that cover aluminum Mopar prototype wheels. Red paint brightens the rims, as well as satin and brushed center caps that give a clean look while hiding the lug nuts.

These new Chrysler products are part of the Manufacturing Renaissance that I will be documenting in my next book, due out this fall. 

My first book, Last Chance Mile, is on sale now at Schuler Books & Music in downtown Grand Rapids, or can be ordered from any local bookseller. 

The story of the reinvention of Grand Rapids, Mich. is also available at your favorite online retailer. Here is a direct link to Last Chance Mile at Abbott Press. 

 

Reinventing Manufacturing: Growing Jobs at Ford

*Michigan Assembly Plant (MAP) is the first plant in Michigan and the first auto plant to earn Plant of the Year honors from ASSEMBLY Magazine

*ASSEMBLY Magazine cites MAP's flexible, green manufacturing and transformation from producing large SUVs to fuel-efficient small cars

*Following a $550-million transformation, MAP now produces the Focus, Focus ST and Focus Electric, and is ramping up production of the C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid.

Ford Motor Company's Michigan Assembly Plant has been named Assembly Plant of the Year by ASSEMBLY Magazine. It is the first time an automaker, as well as a plant in Michigan, has earned the honor.

"MAP is an example of Ford manufacturing at its best – a flexible facility that is using a highly trained work force to build fuel efficient vehicles in an environmentally friendly manner," said Jim Tetreault, Ford vice president of North America Manufacturing. "We are proud that our hard work has been recognized by experts who know manufacturing."

The goal of the Assembly Plant of the Year award is to identify a state-of-the-art facility that has applied world-class processes to reduce production cost, increase productivity and shorten time to market or improve product quality, said Austin Weber, senior editor for ASSEMBLY Magazine.

"We chose MAP as our 2012 winner because the plant is a showcase for flexible, green, lean manufacturing," Weber said. "We were also impressed that Ford took a plant that produced large SUVs and turned it into a state-of-the-art facility that makes fuel-efficient small cars. That's not something that we often see in manufacturing."

Following a $550-million transformation, Ford re-opened MAP in early 2010 with production of the 2012 Focus. Ford has since added the Focus Electric zero-emission battery electric vehicle and the Focus ST performance model. The company is now ramping up production of the C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid.

In May, MAP added a third production crew with 1,200 new jobs. The plant currently employs 5,170 workers.

 

 

GM And My Hometown

Growing up in Warren

Warren, Mich. That is where I grew up and every neighborhood in what was Michigan's fourth largest city in the 1960s and 1970s was like its own little small town.
My neighborhood--my hometown--was known as the Green Acres subdivision. It was built, and we all lived, in the shadow of the GM Technical Center.

Of course the 21st century has not been kind to General Motors and as a result the first years of this millennium have been more than dismal for Warren. The Great Collapse of Manufacturing in Michigan was especially rough on Metro Detroit, as I will detail in the first chapter of Manufacturing Renaissance, due out this fall.

However, some great news came from GM today for Warren:

GM Opens New IT Innovation Center in Michigan

Renaissance Center

Approximately 1,500 high-tech jobs to be created

 General Motors is opening an Information Technology Innovation Center in Warren, Mich., and expects to hire up to 1,500 high-tech employees over the next several years to support the company’s new approach to IT services.

The GM Michigan Innovation Center is the second of four planned Innovation Centers in the United States. GM last month announced the opening of the first facility in Austin, Texas, where 500 new IT jobs will be created.
 “We’re currently seeking the next generation of game-changers to help us usher in a new age of automotive innovation at GM,” said GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott.
The IT Innovation Centers play a critical role in GM’s overall IT business strategy. GM is looking to create and deliver IT services with new capabilities that will help the company improve its performance, drive down the cost of ongoing operations and increase the level of innovation delivered to GM customers. To support this approach, GM is moving to a more in-sourced IT business services model as part of its overall IT Transformation.
“GM is executing an IT best practice by insourcing IT services and making them a strategic part of assuring GM remains a fast-moving leader,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group in San Jose, Calif. “This is also one of the best opportunities for IT professionals to work in the automotive industry.”
Available positions include software development, project management, database management and business analysis. GM is recruiting recent college graduates and experienced professionals for these jobs.
GM recruiters are visiting U.S. college campuses this fall and participating in local job fairs targeting IT professionals. For more information and to apply for one of these positions, potential job candidates should visit http://www.careers.gm.com/itjobs.

Warren, Mich. is reinventing itself just as Grand Rapids, Mich has been doing. However, my hometown is doing it without the billionaire families that my adopted hometown has come to depend on.
What happens when the 1% drags the 99% into the 21st century? That is the story in Last Chance Mile, available from your local bookstore, your favorite online retailer and www.rodkackley.com.

Bringing It Home: Reshoring the Roar

Manufacturing is coming back to the U.S. Some new empirical evidence as been added to what we are hearing anecdotally from manufacturers of all sizes.

Here's a press release fromMichigan State University:

EAST LANSING-- Increasingly, U.S. firms are moving or considering moving their manufacturing operations back to domestic soil from overseas, finds a new study co-authored by a Michigan State University supply chain expert.

Fueling the trend are rising labor costs in emerging countries, high oil prices and increasing transportation costs, global risks such as political instability and other factors, said Tobias Schoenherr.

 “Going overseas is not the panacea that it was thought of just a decade or so ago,” said Schoenherr, assistant professor in MSU’s top-ranked Department of Supply Chain Management. “Companies have realized the challenges and thus are moving back to the United States.”

The study found that 40 percent of manufacturing firms believe there is an increased movement of “reshoring” – or moving manufacturing plants back to the United States from countries such as China and India. While the results differed by industry, the trend was led by aerospace and defense; industrial parts and equipment; electronics; and medical and surgical supplies.

“We were surprised by the large percentage of firms indicating that they are considering reshoring,” Schoenherr said.

The study also found that nearly 38 percent of companies indicated that their direct competitors have reshored.

 In addition to rising costs and global risks, Schoenherr said companies are concerned with the erosion of intellectual property overseas and product quality problems, which can be difficult to fix when dealing with multiple time zones and language and cultural barriers.

 “From my communication with some firms, I also sense a genuine desire to help the U.S. economy and to bring back jobs,” Schoenherr said.

 The study, sponsored by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, is based on a survey of 319 firms.

 Schoenherr’s co-authors were Wendy Tate and Kenneth Petersen of the University of Tennessee and Lisa Ellram of Miami University (Ohio).

Author's note: I will have more on this in Manufacturing Renaissance, scheduled to be published later this fall. For a sneak preview, you will find a three-part series posted at www.rodkackley.com, "Restore The Roar." 

Hope you enjoy it - Rod

 

New Cadillac Bumpers That Do More Than Bump

GM Ren Cen

We focused on General Motor’s invention of new aluminum welding technology in our Manufacturing Renaissance post yesterday. We will stick with GM today, as we present news of the reinvention of the Cadillac.

This GM model, that has been on the road since 1902 will have new technology available that will keep you, those in the car with you and those in cars around you, safer. More on this new technology below:

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Three new Cadillac models, including the ATS sport sedan, have a new advanced safety system that can automatically stop the vehicle in low-speed conditions to help avoid crashes.

 Cadillac’s Front and Rear Automatic Braking acts like a “virtual bumper,” slamming on the brakes as a last resort to help drivers in heavy traffic or even in parking lots and driveways where the driver might fail to see another vehicle or object in his path.

 Automatic Front and Rear Braking is part of the new optional Driver Assist Package on the 2013 ATS sport sedan, XTS luxury sedan and SRX crossover. Relying on a network of sophisticated sensors and advanced electronics, the system can help drivers avoid crashes in low-speed conditions and reduce impact speed under higher speed circumstances.

 “Radars, vision, and ultrasonic sensors in the vehicle are constantly analyzing data and working together to determine if a crash may be imminent,” said Charles Green, the driver performance specialist responsible for the development of the Driver Assist Package technologies. “Based on these calculations, the vehicle can automatically brake to avoid a crash or reduce impact speed, and if necessary, can apply the vehicle’s maximum braking capability.”

Smart Bumpers Anyone?

 If the driver fails to respond to other alerts, such as the Safety Alert Seat vibrations, and a potential collision is imminent, the automatic braking is designed to apply the brakes and stop the vehicle.  The driver may override any automatic braking action taken by the vehicle. If the system brings the car to a stop, the electronic parking brake will hold the car in place until the driver presses the accelerator pedal.

 In developing the technology, engineers had to finesse the system to avoid unwanted activations, ensuring that it is only a last resort.

 “We have spent eight years researching driver behavior which has been incorporated into the design of automatic braking in the Cadillac ATS, XTS, and SRX,” said Green. “Our goal is to effectively provide an extra level of safety support while keeping the driver in complete control of the vehicle at all times.”

 The Driver Assist Package will be available on Performance and Premium trim levels of ATS, XTS, and SRX. The package also includes side blind zone alert and full-speed range adaptive cruise control. ATS and XTS models will also feature a full-color, reconfigurable head-up display that helps keep the driver's eyes on the road.

 

Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, the story of how Grand Rapids, Mich. got ready for the 21^st century, and the people who helped make it happen, is available now at your favorite online retailers, like Abbott Press, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. Direct links to all three are posted on the Welcome Page of www.rodkackley.com

GM Invents New Aluminum Welding Technology

The GM Ren Cen in Detroit

The reinvention of manufacturing begins with the reinvention of products and processes. GM has done that by first creating a new kind of technology. The impact on you? Greater fuel efficiency.

More below:

General Motors Research & Development has invented an industry-first aluminum welding technology expected to enable more use of the lightweight metal on future vehicles, which can help improve fuel economy and driving performance.

 GM’s new resistance spot welding process uses a patented multi-ring domed electrode that does what smooth electrodes are unreliable at doing – welding aluminum to aluminum. By using this process GM expects to eliminate nearly two pounds of rivets from aluminum body parts such as hoods, liftgates and doors.

 GM already uses this patented process on the hood of the Cadillac CTS-V and the liftgate of the hybrid versions of Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. GM plans to use this technology more extensively starting in 2013.

 “The ability to weld aluminum body structures and closures in such a robust fashion will give GM a unique manufacturing advantage,” said Jon Lauckner, GM chief technology officer and vice president of Global R&D.

 “This new technology solves the long-standing problem of spot welding aluminum, which is how all manufacturers have welded steel parts together for decades,” Lauckner said. “It is an important step forward that will grow in importance as we increase the use of aluminum in our cars, trucks and crossovers over the next several years.”

 Spot welding uses two opposing electrode pincers to compress and fuse pieces of metal together, using an electrical current to create intense heat to form a weld. The process is inexpensive, fast and reliable, but until now, not robust for use on aluminum in today’s manufacturing environment. GM’s new welding technique works on sheet, extruded and cast aluminum because GM’s proprietary multi-ring domed electrode head disrupts the oxide on aluminum’s surface to enable a stronger weld.

Imagine how much fuel we could save

 Historically, automakers have used self-piercing rivets to join aluminum body parts, because of variability in production with conventional resistance spot welding. However, rivets add cost and riveting guns have a limited range of joint configurations. In addition, end-of-life recycling of aluminum parts containing rivets is more complex.

 “No other automaker is spot-welding aluminum body structures to the extent we are planning to, and this technology will allow us to do so at low cost,” said Blair Carlson, GM manufacturing systems research lab group manager. “We also intend to consider licensing the technology for non-GM production in automotive, heavy truck, rail and aerospace applications.”

Ducker Worldwide, a Michigan-based market research firm, said aluminum use in vehicles is expected to double by 2025. The material offers many advantages over steel. One kilogram of aluminum can replace two kilograms of steel. It is corrosion-resistant and offers an excellent blend of strength and low mass that can help improve fuel economy and performance.

According to AluminumTransportation.org, a 5 percent to 7 percent fuel savings can be realized for every 10 percent weight reduction, and substituting lightweight aluminum for a heavier material is one way to do it. Cars made lighter with aluminum also can accelerate faster and brake quicker than their heavier counterparts.

 “GM aims to be an industry leader in mass efficiency,” said Roger Clark, manager of the GM Energy Center. “Many little things can add up to big improvements in fuel economy. Incremental mass reductions, like using welds instead of rivets, can help our customers save at the pump.”

(Author's note: Communities can also be reinvented, just as Grand Rapids, Mich. has been reinvented. Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community holds great lessons for any city or town struggling to face the challenges of the 21st century.

Beyond that, it tells some great stores of the people who are putting a new spin on a very old American community.

To find out more about Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, please visit www.rodkackley.com)