[elegant]

Effective June 1st, the daily production total for C7 Corvettes will increase from the current daily, overtime rate of 155 per day to an overtime rate of 170 per day, to help meet the current huge demand for the car.

According to Tadge Juechter, this is partially a result of GM investing millions of dollars in improving manufacturing capability. He specifically mentioned, as one example,that there will now be greater aluminum wheel production capacity.
These investments will allow GM to produce 40,000 StingRays per year starting in June. And, Tadge added, GM is evaluating whether to expand additional resources to further expand StingRay production capacity.

 

[urrtoast]

Hope they got the Orange peel issues sorted.

 

[Ragtop]

Hope they got the Orange peel issues sorted.

No issue. Peel will be standard if you order Daytona Sunset Orange.

 

[mjw930]

40000 / year means lots and lots of discounting and incentives IMHO. OTOH, it may finally mean smaller dealers can get the allocation they need to service their customers. Could be a win/win for the consumer.


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[jagamajajaran]

John, I hope the increased production is matched with an increased attention to paint and body quality control. Has anything been said or alluded to along those lines?

 

[Redc7]

Well the increase makes sense, they went from building the Stingray coupe, to adding the convertible, to adding the Z06 coupe to adding the Z06 convertible not to mention any of the specials models. What's happens if they bring back the GS or ZR-1? GM hit a home run in my book with this new model and with the economy slowing getting better I see continual strong sales for the C7.

 

[Chip]

This does not bode well for an increase in a quality standard that is better than the existing benchmark.(Whatever that is?)

 

[rdslon01]

This does not bode well for an increase in a quality standard that is better than the existing benchmark.(Whatever that is?)

Agreed!

 

[elegant]

John, I hope the increased production is matched with an increased attention to paint and body quality control. Has anything been said or alluded to along those lines?

Heard about additional and some new quality control staff at the Plant, and that the new Plant Manager, Jeff LaMarche, has extensive past experience (31 years at GM), including several years in quality control. I was very, very impressed by his presentation, his background and feel he is going to be a very good Plant Manager! So no direct comments about the paint operations, the paint booth, etc., but he and GM seem to be very concerned about improvements in quality. I will be posting a new thread tomorrow about his presentation.

 

[jagamajajaran]

Heard about additional and some new quality control staff at the Plant, and that the new Plant Manager, Jeff LaMarche, has extensive past experience (31 years at GM), including several years in quality control. I was very, very impressed by his presentation, his background and feel he is going to be a very good Plant Manager! So no direct comments about the paint operations, the paint booth, etc., but he and GM seem to be very concerned about improvements in quality. I will be posting a new thread tomorrow about his presentation.

I'm looking forward to hearing about his presentation. However, when someone posts on a forum that as they walked through the plant tour and came to the paint quality and control area and cars were rolling through without anyone inspecting them because they were on break, there are definitely areas of QC that need addressing.

 

[Chip]

Heard about additional and some new quality control staff at the Plant, and that the new Plant Manager, Jeff LaMarche, has extensive past experience (31 years at GM), including several years in quality control. I was very, very impressed by his presentation, his background and feel he is going to be a very good Plant Manager! So no direct comments about the paint operations, the paint booth, etc., but he and GM seem to be very concerned about improvements in quality. I will be posting a new thread tomorrow about his presentation.

We know one of the issues raised during the strike talks was that the production staff complained about "quality issues". I know from my own production experience that when the folks that are doing the work are seeing problems and those problems are not resolved, it is a management / production design shortcoming. I did QC-QA for a lot of years and I only found a few cases of the production staff not doing the right thing, and many more cases that we as management were not giving the production staff what they needed to do a good job. Sometimes that was a matter of taking the time to do a given job "right". I can't tell you the number of times a production guy sarcastically said to me; "So, we have time to do this again, but we don't have time to do it right the first time?" Balancing production quotas and QC goals is a very difficult nut to crack. It has been my experience that many times "top down" management styles get in the way of the folks that are trying to the best job that they can within the constraints of the environment they are given to accomplish that job. I hope they can get these quality issues in hand and make this an automobile that both its creators and owners can be equally proud of.

 

[STUNG]

Yikes!! They all took off for a coffee break and the assembly line continued with no one person looking or inspecting while every one enjoyed coffee and cookies? OMG!! That is an area that needs to be addressed ASAP.

I have seen many cars arrive at my dealership with bad orange peel on the Cyber Grey in particular. I previously had an 09 CG ZR1 and its paint was great. So I don't think it is a paint issue it must be application or material issues that need to be looked at. Too bad they are dropping the CG as it is the 4th most popular color. I hope I do not have this issue when my 14 CG arrives. (Soon I hope.) Right?
Lets get these constraint issues cleared up as well. People order these options because you made a good option available and they want them. Don't cut back on them to make them rare or limited. Poor supply is a order and supply issue only I hope. Z51 option makes the car what it should be capable of. Other than this, thanks for the great car.

 

[elegant]

As Tadge Juechter and Jeff LaMarche noted, GM's has invested millions into increasing supply and therefore production rates, and starting June 1st production rate will increase to 40,000+ per year. Also, as historically been shown every time a new generation has been introduced, huge initial demand, especially if performance options are presented (e.g. Z-51), then there is marked lesser demand as the generation evolves. They announced that the Z-51 constraints, in spite of this, could well continue for a while, as they are only able, even with the upcoming capacity improvements, to ever-slowly, percentage point by percentage point, increase the current percentage rate of Z-51 production.

GM will not add a second shift to Bowling Green! They did that once and it was excessively costly, and even more QC problems training an additional shift of 500+ employees. They know that after this new-generation excitement calms down 10%, demand will equal supply, that sometime during 2015 there will not be a constraint on even the StingRay Z-51 package, and that one-shift is the best QC and cost-efficient approach. Some not happy about waiting several to many months for their StingRay, to be blunt, try a Ferrari, and if they even qualify you to buy one of their cars (previous several-model new Ferrari ownership required to be eligible to purchase their most desirable models), you will wait two to three years for your car. Waiting six months at a local dealer or going to a high volume dealer such as MacMulkin, and getting exactly what StingRay you want in two months from ordering date is acceptable in my book for the fantastic StingRay -- the most-awarded vehicle in history within its first year after its release.

 

[[email protected]]

They should have increased production months ago. I am going on my 4th month waiting, which is ridiculous.

 

[urrtoast]

They should have increased production months ago. I am going on my 4th month waiting, which is ridiculous.

Try waiting 7 months and still waiting most likely another 5

 

[Derrick1812]

They should have increased production months ago. I am going on my 4th month waiting, which is ridiculous.

We have all been there with this car, but I will say it's worth the wait so be patient.


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[fpetricca]

As Tadge Juechter and Jeff LaMarche noted, GM's has invested millions into increasing supply and therefore production rates, and starting June 1st production rate will increase to 40,000+ per year. Also, as historically been shown every time a new generation has been introduced, huge initial demand, especially if performance options are presented (e.g. Z-51), then there is marked lesser demand as the generation evolves. They announced that the Z-51 constraints, in spite of this, could well continue for a while, as they are only able, even with the upcoming capacity improvements, to ever-slowly, percentage point by percentage point, increase the current percentage rate of Z-51 production.

GM will not add a second shift to Bowling Green! They did that once and it was excessively costly, and even more QC problems training an additional shift of 500+ employees. They know that after this new-generation excitement calms down 10%, demand will equal supply, that sometime during 2015 there will not be a constraint on even the StingRay Z-51 package, and that one-shift is the best QC and cost-efficient approach. Some not happy about waiting several to many months for their StingRay, to be blunt, try a Ferrari, and if they even qualify you to buy one of their cars (previous several-model new Ferrari ownership required to be eligible to purchase their most desirable models), you will wait two to three years for your car. Waiting six months at a local dealer or going to a high volume dealer such as MacMulkin, and getting exactly what StingRay you want in two months from ordering date is acceptable in my book for the fantastic StingRay -- the most-awarded vehicle in history within its first year after its release.

I love it...
U r comparing a Ferrari to the C7? Good stuff.
Not to many Ferrari dealerships have a lot full of unsold cars and customers with money on the table waiting month after month after month.




Alias Frankie!

 

[chazysoccer11]

I agree with Frankie.

 

[mjw930]

From what they have said they are able to increase production rates because they have cleaned up the supply channel. That indicates that all of the throttling of production and constraint issues are supplier related and not plant capacity related. That being said, I wouldn't expect QC to decrease as volume increases IF the processes are designed around the 170 / day volume.

Sometimes quality decreases when you throttle production as the plant is not running at peak efficiency. Maybe increasing production will improve quality? Or, it will give them enough production cushion to resist the temptation to push out marginal products so they can meet production goals. You never know.

See, there's always a bright side to every dark cloud

 

[Chip]

...See, there's always a bright side to every dark cloud

Perhaps, but sometimes that bright side is the flash of a bolt of lighting.