Automotive News Canada - December 2021 - 4

4
* DECEMBER 2021
ALIVE
OSHAWA
ASSEMBLY
Two years ago,
GM announced the
plant's closure, but a
$1.3-billion resurrection
has brought a new
pickup, new automation,
a new workforce and
new confidence for the
auto industry in Canada
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
WITH A FRESHLY PAVED TEST
track, a growing parts operation
and a newly restarted assembly line
that began producing Chevrolet
Silverado pickups Nov. 8, General
Motors is using more of its sprawling
Oshawa Assembly Plant than it has
in decades.
" It's damn near the whole place, "
GM Canada President Scott Bell told
Automotive News Canada. " We are
leveraging and using parts of that
facility that we haven't commissioned
since the '60s. "
It is a dramatic reversal for the
more than century-old site - which
two years ago, it appeared, had
churned out its final vehicle. GM
spent a year and about $1.3 billion
rapidly retooling the Ontario plant
- giving Oshawa the distinction of
being the only Canadian auto assembly
plant to ever reopen after a complete
closure.
The turnaround did come with
one string attached.
" When you're starting a plant and
you want to go as fast as we've gone,
you've kind of got to minimize the
complexity within the plant and the
[product] mix, " Bell said.
For the time being, this makes
Oshawa the only plant in GM's portfolio
to exclusively produce Chevrolet
- and not GMC-badged - pickups.
It will also be the automaker's only
truck plant capable of building both
heavy- and light-duty trucks. Its line
is already assembling Silverado HDs
and will add the light-duty Silverado
in the spring.
GM declined to share its planned
production figures. Sam Fiorani,
vice-president of global vehicle forecasting
at AutoForecast Solutions
LLC, projects that the plant will build
140,000 trucks a year by 2023, its first
year of full production.
The added capacity will help
GM meet resilient North American
demand for
pickups,
though the
microchip
shortage and
other supply
chain problems
might
limit its shortterm
output.
" As we get
into '22, and
hopefully we
can get some
microchips
behind us, to
have the opportunity
to really
fulfill the
demand that's
in the marketplace
is great
for us, " Bell
said. " And of
Bell: Half of the
1,200 new hires
at the Oshawa
plant are women.
" Even building
heavy-duty
trucks, it's not
about brute
strength, it's
really about doing
that job right. "
FILE PHOTO
course, it's a very profitable vehicle
for us and our dealers. "
He cited improvements in chip
supplies heading into next year but
said no " crystal clear " date has been
set for a return to normal.
The restart of Oshawa will not
immediately alleviate the tight inventory,
Fiorani said.
" The pickup shortages have been
mainly because of supplies of parts,
not a lack of production, " he said.
AGAIN
Longer term, the added capacity will help
GM keep pace with competitors, Fiorani
said.
The automaker builds pickups at
three other dedicated factories in North
America. In pre-pandemic 2019, GM facilities
in Flint, Mich., and Fort Wayne, Ind.,
produced about 185,000 and 300,000 pickups,
respectively, while its plant in Silao,
Mexico, built 365,000, according to the
Automotive News Research & Data Center
in Detroit.
BORDER RESTRICTIONS
The first Silverados built in Oshawa
reached dealer lots this month. Bell could
not say what portion of the plant's output
would be destined for Canadian dealers but
said that over time, GM will aim to build
every Silverado sold in Canada in Oshawa.
The one-year turnaround for Oshawa's
retooling was among the quickest in GM
history, Bell said. Much of the automaker's
retooling team, which typically spends
months on-site upgrading a plant, was
based in the United States, and could not
enter Canada because of COVID-19 restrictions.
As a result, GM shed a number of
more traditional approaches.
" We weren't able to get people across
the border, and so the team had to be very
nimble and creative, " Bell said.
The team leveraged the new virtual
norm in place of cross-border travel and
used the microchip shortage to its advantage.
When the CAMI Assembly Plant in
Ingersoll, Ont., was idled because of the
supply shortages, for instance, GM put
some of the plant's staff to work on the retrofits
in Oshawa.
Ultimately, personnel installed more
than 1,100 new robots, 500 kilometres of
electrical wiring and 3.1 kilometres of conveyance.
'BEGINNING
OF SOMETHING'
The plant's new production team
reflects modern strides toward a more
diverse manufacturing
sector. Half of the 1,200
new hires at the plant are
women.
Oshawa Assembly, which builds only Chevrolet pickups, boasts more
than 1,100 new robots, 500 kilometres of electrical wiring and
3.1 kilometres of conveyance. PHOTO: GENERAL MOTORS
The outcome is a
direct result of the hiring
team's effort to dispel
the longstanding stigma
about women in manufacturing
roles, Bell said.
To promote inclusivity,
GM adjusted its job
advertisements and rooted
out bias in its training
program that favoured
physicality over quality.
really about doing that job right and doing
it with great attention to detail, " Bell said.
As the new hires gain experience, he
said, GM will be able to draw from the pool
of female talent to boost representation
within its management. Today, women
make up about 23 per cent of GM's global
workforce and roughly 20 per cent of its
executives, according to the company's
2020 sustainability report.
" Hopefully, this is the beginning of
something for the long haul in all of our
manufacturing facilities, " Bell said.
Oshawa will run on a single shift
through this month before ramping up to
two shifts in early 2022. GM has filled most
of the 1,800 positions available at the plant
and is in the final stages of training workers
on the second shift.
'CLEAN CANVAS'
Most are new to the five-million-squarefoot
(465,000-square-metre) plant, though
around 500 of the 2,300 workers who were
laid off when Oshawa closed in late 2019
retained their recall rights.
Unifor was transitioning the plant's
workforce when the retooling and restart
were announced, said union President
Jerry Dias. Starting with a relatively
" clean canvas " let Unifor and the company
work together on hiring a diverse workforce,
Dias said.
A year after that process
started, when the
first pickup rolled off
the line, the number of
young workers created a
palpably expectant atmosphere,
he said.
" It's not very often
that you start a job and
you think, 'Boy, I'm going
to be here for a long, long,
long time,' " Dias said.
The city of Oshawa
may no longer identify
exclusively as an auto
town, but Mayor Dan
Carter said the " psychological
factor " of the
plant's reopening has
Carter says
the plant's
revival means
the city will
continue to
play a role
in the future
of the auto
industry.
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
reenergized the community. The restart of
production means the city of 170,000 will
continue to hold a prominent position in
the industry, he said.
Dias: Not so
fast mourning
Canada's auto
industry.
FILE PHOTO
" With the equipment, the technology
that we have, even building heavy-duty
trucks, it's not about brute strength, it's
" It will be different than it was 30, 40
or 50 years ago, but I think it will play an
important role, " Carter said.
Along with the jobs at Oshawa
Assembly, parts suppliers in the area have
been able to ramp back up, returning thousands
of jobs, Dias said. It also broadcasts a
clear signal beyond Oshawa.
" It's showing ... the claim of the death
of our auto industry was premature, to say
the least, " he said. - ANC
Automotive News Canada - December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - December 2021
