# Sticky  Chevy Cruze & GM Powertrain: An Inside Look



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

*GM Powertrain Headquarters
*
After we were done at the Flint Engine Operations plant, we headed over to the Performance Center. However, we’ll leave that for last as a treat. Let’s move on to our third stop at GM Powertrain Headquarters.

GM Powertrain Headquarters is where engines and transmissions are designed, manufactured, and tested. Due to the confidential nature of this, I was unable to take photos, but what I will share is what I learned, which should be infinitely more valuable. None of the pictures would have made any sense to most people anyway.

Engine development at GM is, to put it plainly, state-of-the-art. The have perfected this to a thing of beauty, beyond just excellence and superiority. Yes, I’m referring to its competitors. GM’s Powertrain Global Headquarters is the largest and most advanced powertrain engineering complex in the world. It is the product of 30 years of planning and restructuring inside GM, and I can honestly say the future is looking blindingly bright for GM.

Engine development begins in the planning phase. It takes about 1.5 years for GM to design an engine, and during this time, no physical products are actually created. Engineering teams from around the world coordinate to develop these motors using the most sophisticated proprietary engine simulation software that exists. That software is something that sets GM above other manufacturers.

Once an engine is designed, a few prototype engines are created. These engines are built by elite engine builders, who spend 3-4 days assembling one engine, while measuring each individual specification, tolerance, gap, and measurement that can be taken with absolute precision. Once these engines are assembled, they are sent to one of GM’s 120 out-of-car dyno cells, where they are subjected to the equivalent of thousands of miles of testing in temperatures from -40 to +60 degrees Celsius. They have two dynos with the ability to instantly shift +54 to -54 degrees of rotational freedom in 360 degrees of direction, simulating up to 1.3g of vehicle load in order to test fluid behavior.

This facility houses development of hybrid powertrains, electric powertrains, and all types of transmissions for cars, trucks, hybrids, and electric vehicles including RWD, FWD, and AWD transmissions, up to a maximum torque of 950Nm (701 ft-lb).

Once an engine has begun testing in one of the dyno cells, it is constantly monitored by engineers with high resolution cameras, and every single aspect of that engine is being measured and recorded. During the life of that testing cycle, gigabytes of data is gathered. What’s special about GM is not just their ability to do this, but their ability to adapt their software to incorporate the results of all of this testing in new engine simulation. Startup companies like Fisker don’t even stand a chance and have no idea what they’re even getting into. It’s probably why they don’t even aspire to compete with GM. As a side note, GM’s 2.0 Turbo is what’s being fitted into the Fisker. As a result of all of this testing, data gathering, and improving of their proprietary software, they are able to design engines like never before. Instead of producing 5, 30, and then 500 engines to test in various configurations in an expensive fleet of test mules, they can do 500 engines’ worth of testing in their simulations with the ability to change any variable, needing only to produce a much smaller test run.

During this testing, engines are also sent to GM’s proving grounds for in-vehicle testing. Once they are tested, they are brought back to the lab, where an elite engine builder then disassembles the engine, checking for torque, gaps, tolerances, and every specification that can be measured during the disassembly period, which is then used to make any changes needed to the motor. The whole process for developing a motor takes about 3 years.

While I would love to explain more, it seems someone has beaten me to this one:

Inside GM's State-of-the-Art Powertrain Engineering Center - PickupTrucks.com News


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

*Lordstown
*
I arrived at Lordstown on Friday morning at 10:00 AM and met with another Tom! This is where you get to see the Cruze being made.

*Metal Fabrication*
In one section of this facility, the metal stamping occurs in tools the size of warehouses that can produce stamped steel at an incredible rate. To give you guys some perspective; ~1500 cars go through the Lordstown plant per day. I’ll let the pictures do the talking for this one:

















































Then there’s this particular picture, which deserves a caption. Inside this plant, components are delivered to workers using automated vehicles that use magnets in the floor to travel a pre-set route inside the building. Really neat!


























This last picture is the final step that the Cruze shell takes before traveling a couple of miles through a tunnel to the painting facility. Fun fact: during the production of the Cruze in this plant, the car travels ~20 miles on conveyor belts.










Videos met the exceeded limit for this post, so they will be posted in the following post.



*Assembly*
Once the frame of the car has gone through the paint section, it arrives here down a conveyor belt. First thing that goes on the car? The VIN badge.

































During the assembly, the doors are actually removed. Once they are removed, a tool kit is hung from the door, which contains every piece and tool necessary for the next worker to use to install whatever is needed on that door. The door is removed to make interior assembly easier. 

















This is where they “marry” the shell to the powertrain and suspension. The powertrain is carried around by more vehicles guided by magnets in the floors. Hydraulic pistons lift the entire assembly up into the car, which is then bolted into place.

























Engines being carried away…

























Rims and tires being mounted and inflated









Final step after the car is done is inspection. These cars all go past a sizeable group of inspectors who have a hawk’s eye for imperfections and details that need to be addressed. Pretty much nothing gets past these guys.










I have to say one thing before we move on; I was impressed and warmed by the welcoming nature of all of the workers here and in Flint. I can’t say any of them hate their job or despise their boss, and I would be happy to work in that environment. Each one of these employees is proud of the work that they do, and do it excellently. One thing I did notice was a carry-over of standard practices from the Flint plant, with regard to error detection and prevention. Again, this was a very impressive atmosphere.

After my tour was over with Tom, he took a picture of us (myself, my wife, and Ryan (OnlyTaurus)), pulled out his voice recorder, and pulled me aside to ask me some questions. I’ll present the questions here and my answers to them as well as I can remember. These were all given on the spot without any hesitation or moments of pause:

Q: “Tell me more about the CruzeTalk site and what you guys do.”
A: We basically help other people that come to the forum. When new members show up and have questions, we’re there to answer them, address any concerns, and help them in any way they can. If they’re new members and are asking if they should buy a Cruze, our answer is generally yes and we do all we can to get them into a Cruze. We help anyone who has any problems to the best of our ability, forward anyone to GM Customer service if they have a problem we can’t help with, and, generally speaking, do everything in the best of our abilities to make sure they have the best Cruze ownership experience they possibly can have.

Q: “Why did you pick the Cruze specifically to support in this way?”
A: “I’ve owned GM cars from my very first car, a 95 Buick Regal. I believe in supporting America, supporting the American economy, and I believe in this car. No offense to the Cobalt and Cavalier, but the Cruze is just miles ahead of it in terms of quality, and I want people to see that. I believe in this car and where GM is going. It is saving me and my family money, and is an excellent car, and I want other people to see that.”

It was at that point in time that I realized that Ryan and I were the face of CruzeTalk at the GM Lordstown plant. Shortly after this, we went upstairs to their cafeteria to have lunch, and Tom left for a moment while we ate. Shortly after, he arrived with Bob Parcell, the Lordstown Plant Manager who sat down to talk to us as well. He asked us a few of the same questions, which were answered in the same general manner. He told us that he was thankful and appreciative for what we do, and I could tell in the way both he and Tom spoke to us that they were genuinely appreciative. I could tell that the atmosphere of this place was one of pride and genuine hard work. People who work here take pride in what they do, and to hear that we’re out here supporting their product really seemed to impress them. In fact, it made enough of an impact that they told us that they will be promoting this site, CruzeTalk.com. They had been lurking the site for a short while prior to our arrival and were impressed with what we do here. It seems Ryan and I left a pretty good impression, and for that I’m grateful.

Bob or Tom, if either of you are reading this, it was a genuine pleasure to meet both of you.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I was also able to get some videos. This first video shows the top of the frame being spot welded:




 
This second video shows a robot applying adhesive to the door. GM discovered that two layers of sheet metal sandwiched with adhesive is just as strong as 3 layers of metal, but lighter!




 
Some additional spot welding:


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

*GM Performance Build Center*

Between the Flint Engine Operations plant and the GM Powertrain Headquarters, we stopped by a little place some people may not even know about. The GM Performance Center is where a small team of engine builders hand-assembles each of the Corvette engines. Commence drooling. 










































Proud to be American.









LS9 piston with titanium connecting rods

















Station where they install connecting rod bearings









Bearing kit


















Crankshaft installation

































Oil cooler adapter?









Fitting the timing cover with a specially made jig.

















See that torque wrench? The builder scans a barcode for each bolt that is installed, which then automatically sets the torque on the torque wrench. Once the desired torque has been achieved, a green light lights up on the torque wrench and the next bolt is scanned.


















This machine tightens down the cylinder head bolts. This is something one person cannot possibly do as effectively as this machine can.









Rockers and pushrod

















LS9 Supercharger


















...continued in next post due to image limit...


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

LS9 intercooler

















Here’s a neat bit. Each engine builder has his own plaque with his name on it, which he affixes to each engine he builds. If you pay $5,800 upon purchase of your Z06 or ZR1, you can build your own engine, and you get your own plaque made to fit on your engine. Taking the American dream car to a whole new level!


















Clutch installation


















































Cold dyno, just like we saw at the flint plant:

















Rotating and reciprocating cranktrain balancer. Here's where they balance everything attached to the crankshaft by adding weights to the flywheel and damper. 


















































Pictures of people who have built their own motor










...continued on next post due to image limit...


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Heritage room pics have been moved to page 2 to reduce page 1 load times.


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## Mattburgess (May 29, 2012)

Wow! Great write up... alot of good info about the engine .. good job xtreme!


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## tecollins1 (Nov 6, 2011)

Awesome job Andrei !!

The best representative for cruzetalk! 

Sent from iPhone 4


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

I haven't had a chance to view all of your posts yet, but you're very lucky that you got to take pics and videos.

Every auto plant I've toured (Toyota, Nissan and Mazda in Japan, NUMMI, and Ford Rouge) don't allow people on tours to take pictures or video. It seems only those w/the media/journalists or approved internal photographers/videographers are generally allowed.

For NUMMI, I recall having to hand over either my camera (or was it my camera phone?) before the start of the tour.

One should be VERY glad that GM today isn't like that of yesterday (back in the 70s and 80s). For those who want to hear about how screwed up assembly was (at least at GM Fremont, CA), one should listen to the This American Life ep I mentioned at http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/27-fuel-economy/3794-diesel-worth-waiting-9.html#post51533.


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## mrbean8686 (Jun 23, 2012)

Great job Xtreme, well written you definitely give us a great perspective on the inside job that goes on building our great cars. It feels good to know the top notch quality that goes in to building these fine machines, thanks for this great write up Andrei.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using AutoGuide.Com Free App


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## UpstateNYBill (Jan 14, 2012)

Terrific write up! I had no idea how much effort and precision went in to the manufacturing of the Cruze. Thank you!


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

My question is this if the inspectors find an imperfection what steps are taken to correct it.


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Great job Xtreme(How does one go about getting a tour of the Lordstown plant)


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Moving Heritage room pictures to page 2 to reduce load times for page 1

Heritage Room!






























































































































































This is the last of the posts. Feel free to comment!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I've uploaded new resized photos that require less time to load so your browser doesn't lock up trying to load the first page. I also moved the Heritage room pictures to the second page to reduce load times for the first page. Now it's at least manageable. 



cwerdna said:


> I haven't had a chance to view all of your posts yet, but you're very lucky that you got to take pics and videos.
> 
> Every auto plant I've toured (Toyota, Nissan and Mazda in Japan, NUMMI, and Ford Rouge) don't allow people on tours to take pictures or video. It seems only those w/the media/journalists or approved internal photographers/videographers are generally allowed.
> 
> For NUMMI, I recall having to hand over either my camera (or was it my camera phone?) before the start of the tour.


This wasn't a public tour with a typical tour guide. Without getting into details, I've formed relationships with contacts at GM that have given me this opportunity. It's not something they do for everyone. I am more than appreciative that I had the chance to do this and even moreso that I was able to bring back some of what I saw. 



2013Cruze said:


> My question is this if the inspectors find an imperfection what steps are taken to correct it.


I'm actually not entirely sure. I can email Tom @ Lordstown to ask him if you want to know more. 



2013Cruze said:


> Great job extreme (How does one go about getting a tour of the Lordstown plant)


I believe they give public tours on a specific schedule. If you or a local group of people are interested in going, they might be able to set something up. Let me know, and I can shoot Tom an email asking about this.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

On the left is Tom Read, the man who made all of this happen. If there's anyone you should be thanking, it's him. I just sent him the link to this page, so feel free to express your thanks here.


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Xtreme I'm from the Quad Cities I don't know if you know where that is or not but anyway I would really like to find out how to get a tour of the Lordstown plant anything you could find out for me would be helpful thanks again.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Xtreme I'm from the Quad Cities I don't know if you know where that is or not but anyway I would really like to find out how to get a tour of the Lordstown plant anything you could find out for me would be helpful thanks again.


I'll ask if they'd be willing to set up another public tour or when their next public tour will be.


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## zr1000a1 (Jan 25, 2012)

Awesome, Great, Epic thread. Very enjoyable and well done. Ya did Cruzetalk proud! By chance did they let you peak behind the curtain to the future Cruze development?


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Xtreme when you were at Lordstown were they building the 2013 Cruzes?


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> This wasn't a public tour with a typical tour guide. Without getting into details, I've formed relationships with contacts at GM that have given me this opportunity. It's not something they do for everyone. I am more than appreciative that I had the chance to do this and even moreso that I was able to bring back some of what I saw.


I see. You're very lucky. I've never gotten to see engine assembly on my tours up close. In some cases, they were done at another plant that I didn't get to see.

All the tours I went on were tours to the general public except for one unusual one. I tried to get a Nissan plant tour and at the time, they apparently stopped doing English tours (was either 03 or 05).  The day before my flight to Japan, they emailed me saying they had a spot and it'd be in English! I owned two Nissans, at the time.

I showed up + two Americans. There was supposed to be some guy who never showed up. There was also an interpreter who Nissan hired and came from Tokyo. The guy who guided us three spoke Japanese only. We never did find out who that other guy was but I'm guessing he was some VIP like a vendor or supplier as there was no reason for Nissan to make an accommodation for us three Americans. The other two guys didn't even own Nissans.

Questions:
- In the tours I've been on, the doors were always removed after painting in order for workers to be more able to easily install stuff in the inside (e.g. dash, seats, interior components, wiring harnesses, etc.) Was that the case/reason there?
- At Nissan and IIRC, Toyota and Ford, they had a sheet taped to the front of the car as it moved down the line the basically indicated everything about that car in terms of what it should be equipped with. Did they have that there?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

zr1000a1 said:


> Awesome, Great, Epic thread. Very enjoyable and well done. Ya did Cruzetalk proud! By chance did they let you peak behind the curtain to the future Cruze development?


Nope. I didn't see any future Cruze related things. 



2013Cruze said:


> Xtreme when you were at Lordstown were they building the 2013 Cruzes?


Yep. Those were all 2013 models. If you look at the first few assembly line pictures, you'll see a Cyber gray colored Cruze that's new for 2013. 



cwerdna said:


> Questions:
> - In the tours I've been on, the doors were always removed after painting in order for workers to be more able to easily install stuff in the inside (e.g. dash, seats, interior components, wiring harnesses, etc.) Was that the case/reason there?
> - At Nissan and IIRC, Toyota and Ford, they had a sheet taped to the front of the car as it moved down the line the basically indicated everything about that car in terms of what it should be equipped with. Did they have that there?


They did indeed remove the doors to make interior assembly easier. 

I'm not sure if they had a sheet. All of the stations had "kits" that I believe were assigned to a given VIN number as the car rolled down the assembly line. The sheet may have been there, but I didn't notice it.


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## coinneach (Apr 10, 2012)

Epic indeed. \m/


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Xtreme did you by any chance see the new blue color for 2013 and if you did can you describe what it looks like thanks?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Xtreme did you by any chance see the new blue color for 2013 and if you did can you describe what it looks like thanks?


There's a new blue? The only new color I was aware of is the Cyber Metallic Gray. That's pictured in one of the first few posts.


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## mrbean8686 (Jun 23, 2012)

xtreme by any chance did you get a chance to take a sneak peak of the underbody shield, just curious thanks.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

mrbean8686 said:


> xtreme by any chance did you get a chance to take a sneak peak of the underbody shield, just curious thanks.


That's a good question. Ryan and I were too absorbed in the whole thing to remember to take a look underneath any of the cars, so no, we didn't. I realized it about 15 minutes after we had left the complex and text him about it, lol.


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> There's a new blue? The only new color I was aware of is the Cyber Metallic Gray. That's pictured in one of the first few posts.


Yeah it's called Altintis Blue Metallic( sorry for the mis spelling ) it's listing as a color option according to Edumnds.Com.Also my salemen show me a color pattern of that color and of Cyber Grey but they never look like they do in pics.


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## Chevyderek72 (May 16, 2011)

Wow that is absolutely amazing, I would love to go on that tour. You guys are two very lucky men to get the chance. A great thanks to Tom Read and everyone else who had a hand in it for making this happen. It really is awesome to see what goes into producing the Cruze, and making it what it is with the advancements and precision.


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## zr1000a1 (Jan 25, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Yeah it's called Altintis Blue Metallic( sorry for the mis spelling ) it's listing as a color option according to Edumnds.Com.Also my salemen show me a color pattern of that color and of Cyber Grey but they never look like they do in pics.


I always really liked the GM Laser blue metallic.


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## Mattburgess (May 29, 2012)

Again thank you Andrei for the tour and info you gave us here on Cruzetalk.. Great job man! Makes me more proud of driving and owning my cruze...


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

XR - as your avatar would say - "Fascinating". Thanks for all the work you do for CT and for getting us an inside look (vicariously) of GM Powertrain and Lordstown.

Out of curiosity, did you find out how the Cruze sparkplugs were being inconsistently thrown out of spec? I would think the laser measurements of the plugs would have blocked any out of spec plugs from getting into the engines.

Also, if Tom Read is reading this thread - thank you.


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## danimal (Oct 4, 2011)

Fantastic and well done! Thanks for doing this, and thanks to Tom!


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Thank you! And thank you to Tom Read and all the other folks at GM for giving this forum a behind the scenes look at how our cars are assembled! 

GM's always made great engines, with a few exceptions like any car maker. They finally have great cars to put them into now.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

Woohoo!! Awesome Write-up Andrei! If you don't mind, I can upload some of my pics later as well, some that differ from yours, obviously. Definitely one heck of an experience, it was incredible at the Lordstown Plant! Somewhat glad you didn't post that pic of me in the jumpsuit from the 'chassis' side, lol did I look goofy.

Also, Tom is sending us some Cruze apparel too, can't wait for those to come in!


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

Did you happen to ask them why they use a cast iron block? That is the most puzzling design decision I have with the car. I can't think of another 4 cylinder motor that uses cast iron like that.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Dale_K said:


> Did you happen to ask them why they use a cast iron block? That is the most puzzling design decision I have with the car. I can't think of another 4 cylinder motor that uses cast iron like that.


My guess would be heat from the turbo.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

OnlyTaurus said:


> Woohoo!! Awesome Write-up Andrei! If you don't mind, I can upload some of my pics later as well, some that differ from yours, obviously. Definitely one heck of an experience, it was incredible at the Lordstown Plant! Somewhat glad you didn't post that pic of me in the jumpsuit from the 'chassis' side, lol did I look goofy.
> 
> Also, Tom is sending us some Cruze apparel too, can't wait for those to come in!


You mean this picture?












Dale_K said:


> Did you happen to ask them why they use a cast iron block? That is the most puzzling design decision I have with the car. I can't think of another 4 cylinder motor that uses cast iron like that.


Technically, it's a hollow iron block. Cast would be much heavier. I'm not too sure why they did that as well. It may have been due to cost.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> You mean this picture?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hahahaha! Yeahhhh, check out that style. I'm ready to stamp some metal! lol


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Excellent job Andrei! Glad to see someone active on the forum with good connections!

I worked directly in automotive for almost 4 years. I worked for a supplier of sealing and trim parts, and part of the parts supply contract included the Engineering effort. I was employed by the supplier but worked internal to GM and held an actual GM employee designation as a DE (Design Engineer). I was referred to as an Integrated Supplier. I am not an Engineer and do not pretend to be, but my title was such and I was only in that position because I have a three year Engineering Technologist Diploma that my US-based employer considered an acceptable alternative to a three year Engineering education in the US, considering when I was hired the bulk of my initial duties were design related (CAD).

I worked in the Oshawa assembly plant here in Ontario, and was hired to be part of the launch team of the Buick Lacrosse, and later the current (outgoing) Chevy Impala. Our company supplied all of the sealing and door trim products for both cars (also NVH and hose products, but those weren’t my responsibility). The CREC (Canadian Regional Engineering Center) building where I worked is right across the street from the assembly plant, where I spent a LOT of time. Over one year of my time was spent working full time in Warren Michigan at the GM Tech Center, where I was working on the sealing package of the Cadillac CTS coupe.

I am a very technical person, and even after working directly in the industry for years I still have not seen the entire scope of what makes GM tick. I estimate I got to experience (at a very shallow level mostly) approximately 60% of what goes into Engineering, testing and manufacturing a new vehicle. I probably only experienced about 3% of the business and marketing end. This includes a fair bit of exposure, from pulling all nighters in the wind tunnel to rigging up test vehicles in Milford (Proving Grounds) to Engineering, validating, manufacturing and supplying components from concept to end product.

With that little bit of history out of the way:

Automotive manufacturing is a MASSIVE undertaking that the general public is completely incapable of comprehending. That is not meant to be a derogatory comment, it is however a FACT. As much of a car person as I have always been, before I worked in automotive I used to wonder how a car company could justify charging so much for a car. After seeing what I’ve seen it’s a wonder they can turn a profit. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles are sold before a car company ever sees a payback for the initial investment of developing a new car like the Cruze, hence the push towards commonisation and global development.

A Car Assembly Plant (CAP) process is a massive machine that requires a perfect coordination of hundreds-of-thousands of variables to operate smoothly and turn out a quality product. When you take into consideration the Just In Time supply chain as well as all of the inconsistency introduced by the imperfect fleshy human beings that this huge undertaking depends on, it is an absolute wonder of the modern world that a car-a-minute can be pumped out the business end of a CAP with high quality, consistency and reliability.

Quality control in automotive is a constant achievement and can never go overlooked or be taken for granted. Car companies rely on suppliers for most of the car, typically only making the Body In White and the mechanical components of the engine. If a supplier allows quality to slip it affects the car and the company’s reputation. Checks are put in place, for sure, but it’s impossible to test everything before it goes into the car.

I’m typing all of this in a futile effort to try to impress upon those reading it the massive scale that is the automotive world. I’m absolutely THRILLED to see this thread posted in the forum and glad to see that it will shed a little light on the Cruze, where it comes from, and how much effort goes into making it a great car.

Manufacturing is SO important to the North American economy. Every car I’ve owned has been a GM; my first, an ‘85 Cadillac Sedan DeVille (yeah baby!), two Saturns, a ‘96 SL2 and an ‘01 SC2, an ‘02 Corvette Z06 (still got ‘er) and now my ‘12 Cruze. I don’t discount Ford and Chrysler as I think they are both making some nice products, but GM’s cars have always just appealed to me for some reason. I believe in supporting the North American economy, and preserving as many manufacturing jobs as we can. GM making a great car like the Cruze will keep lots of people happily employed and spending their paycheques supporting their communities.

GREAT post Andrei! The forum owes you a cold one!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

This is very awesome. Great job setting this up and documenting Andrei!

I went on a tour last year of the Volvo Truck plant in Dublin, VA that builds all the Volvo tractor trailers for the US. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but they turn out something like 2,000-4,000 trucks a year or so, working directly off orders placed for the trucks. It was incredible - some of the technology they had was very, very cool, and you could pretty much custom build your entire truck - right down to the factory paint shop. This GM plant looks like it's replaced many jobs from the Volvo plant with robots and machines, as I imagine it's much more efficient to automate.

It's impressive that they have a whole plant dedicated to the 1.4 engines alone - and it shows. I'm continually impressed by this engine, and I usually can't believe that it's as ridiculously small as it is. Perhaps this small-displacement engine is around to stay for GM for a while, and will be used in many future models with some tweaking.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

OnlyTaurus said:


> Hahahaha! Yeahhhh, check out that style. I'm ready to stamp some metal! lol


Kevlar sleeves are ALWAYS in style in the body shop!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

jblackburn said:


> This is very awesome. Great job setting this up and documenting Andrei!
> 
> I went on a tour last year of the Volvo Truck plant in Dublin, VA that builds all the Volvo tractor trailers for the US. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but they turn out something like 2,000-4,000 trucks a year or so, working directly off orders placed for the trucks. It was incredible - some of the technology they had was very, very cool, and you could pretty much custom build your entire truck - right down to the factory paint shop. This GM plant looks like it's replaced many jobs from the Volvo plant with robots and machines, as I imagine it's much more efficient to automate.
> 
> It's impressive that they have a whole plant dedicated to the 1.4 engines alone - and it shows. I'm continually impressed by this engine, and I usually can't believe that it's as ridiculously small as it is. Perhaps this small-displacement engine is around to stay for GM for a while, and will be used in many future models with some tweaking.


Interesting bit about the 1.4 engine, the pistons have what they call a DLC coating; a diamond-like carbon. Normally found in high performance cars (and razor blades to make them last longer), this was used on the piston rings to greatly reduce friction and consequently greatly improve reliability (by way of friction reduction) and fuel economy. 

Advanced synthetic surface treatment is typically used outside the automotive field in things like hard drives, orthopedic implants, and semi-conductors. GM has a great deal of interested vested in this technology and plan to use it. The way I read it, GM "cracked the code" for DLC chemistry for use on piston rings and plans to use it on other powertrain components as early as 2014. 

The 1.4L engine is more impressive than many people know, and everything I've learned about it during my visits indicates it will be a very reliable engine for hundreds of thousands of miles.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

This should definitely be 'stickied'...


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## Raul_Fury (Feb 8, 2012)

OnlyTaurus said:


> This should definitely be 'stickied'...


+10 to that...

Perfect post Andrei, few can do a thorough explanation as good as that.
Thanks!


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Technically, it's a hollow iron block. Cast would be much heavier. I'm not too sure why they did that as well. It may have been due to cost.


It is actually a cast iron block, but the block is cast with internal oil and coolant passages. Also, the wall thickness of the block casting is thin where loading is light, and much heavier where loads are higher, like attachment points and the girdle area around the crankshaft mains.

I've heard several references made to the use of iron blocks over aluminum in new smaller engines for the purpose of faster warm-up. Ford's new 3 cylinder 1.0L EcoBoost uses an iron block as well. Taken from the Wikipedia page on Ford EcoBoost engines here:

Ford EcoBoost engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The engine block is cast iron instead of aluminium for up to 50% faster warm-up."

This goes against what I would have assumed since aluminum has much less thermal "mass" (specific heat capacity) than cast iron; iron has ~46% greater volumetric heat capacity than aluminum, though there is less iron by volume in a casting design of equal stiffness. I guess what's at play here is that aluminum loses heat to the surrounding air (higher emissivity) much faster than iron and that must have a greater affect on the time it takes to heat the engine... ?

Since the engine is so small, I doubt there would be much weight savings in an aluminum block (15-20 lbs guessing?), but the advantages of faster warm up and cheaper cost would be very attractive to any manufacturer trying to pass emissions regulations and save a few bucks. Here's the Wikipedia page on the Family 0 engine from GM:

GM Family 0 engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## TechCruzer (Mar 15, 2012)

Well... I could sit here and go on, but I'll say this for now. WOW! Nice job Andrei & really worth the wait afterall! Something tells me young man you are going places & I am darn proud of you. :th_dblthumb2:


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## Shane (Aug 11, 2012)

Agreed! i definitely enjoyed reading this. Very informative! Amazing Job!


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

Excellent write up and pictures! Thanks for giving us a close look at how well our Cruzes are made.


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## GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer (Feb 26, 2011)

Dale_K said:


> I can't think of another 4 cylinder motor that uses cast iron like that.


Mitsubishi's legendary 4G63 does.


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## Bohdan (Apr 28, 2012)

Fantastic Forum on the Cruze and the GM Powertrains. Loved seeing the Sparkplugs in there own pallets. Have they started to do a random check on the plugs gap before they are placed in the Engines.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Bohdan said:


> Fantastic Forum on the Cruze and the GM Powertrains. Loved seeing the Sparkplugs in there own pallets. Have they started to do a random check on the plugs gap before they are placed in the Engines.


They aren't manually checking the gaps if that's what you mean. They have laser precision and cameras that do that work for them. They do, however, send in some defective plugs occasionally to make sure that the machine is picking up on the errors.


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## boats4life (May 28, 2011)

Mr. Tom Read,

If you are reading this, I would like to thank you for giving one of our most helpful and fore-running members the opportunity to see what really makes the Cruze such an amazing vehicle. Due to my need for a larger people mover, my Cruze has changed hands and I'm now in a Silverado Crew Cab. However, I still make it a point to check in and help where I can. When Andrei first joined this forum, I was already a senior member and had even been awarded a lifetime membership with my appointment to Moderator. In no time at all, Andrei far surpassed my time and post count to the point of dwarfing all other members in the amount of dedication shown to helping our members. As I will be hanging around but no longer own the Cruze, I've nominated Andrei as my replacement as Moderator and the Administrator has approved. In the future, I would love to own another Cruze. It has, by far and away, been the best car I've ever owned, and I've converted many of my friends and coworkers into GM "Believers" like us by simply showing what the car can do. I was also one of the crazier members when it came to modifications, but that's for another time. Again, I thank you for the great insight into the design and build process, and we all greatly appreciate the site promotion!

We are more than enthusiasts. We are Believers. 

Thank you,
Andrew Peabody


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## zr1000a1 (Jan 25, 2012)

This thread accentuates that problems are coming more from the vendor/supplier end, and that is where concentration needs to be put to bring the quality up to the next level. The question I would have is how much of the initial design and development of the parts comes from GM, and how do they follow through with the supplier all the way through the development to production. Does GM just tell a supplier we need a water pump with this pattern and dimensions and flow rate or is there more involvement? The next question would be quality control and inspection, and rejection. What is the failure rate until rejection of all parts? What is the design life of certain parts? 

Great job done, I would hire Xtreme without thought if I had a business.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

boats4life said:


> Mr. Tom Read,
> 
> If you are reading this, I would like to thank you for giving one of our most helpful and fore-running members the opportunity to see what really makes the Cruze such an amazing vehicle...
> 
> ...


The above quote resonates with this community on a profound level. My sincere wish is that every GM employee that comes across this thread does not overlook the truth behind Andrew's closing statement, which has proudly made its way into my signature. 

"We are more than enthusiasts. We are Believers."


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## HisandHers (Aug 18, 2012)

This is the best writeup I have ever seen on any forum!Great job!


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## Ru5ty (Jun 20, 2012)

this is incredible! I'm very jealous as well as very happy that you got to go and see everything. thank you very much for all this!


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

Ok, I had the pleasure of joining Andrei(XR) at the Lordstown Cruze Assembly Plant. After filtering through my pictures, I thought I could share the pictures I had the honor of taking at the Plant as well. Captions won't be as wordy, since Andrei is God, lol! Enjoy!








The trunks being installed.








After welding the pillars walls.








Heading down to the next operation.








A picture just to show you guys and gals how B-I-G this plant is. This is just the chassis side of the plant, and this area itself expands twice the length behind us and on each side. Enormous.








A picture of the 'marrying' as Andrei showed previously. I was fascinated how they did this.. very cool. All automated.








The beloved 1.4Turbo engine. 








The front fascias(bumpers) ready to be installed.








Another shot of the size of the Plant. This was the assembly side(across from the chassis side), and you can see how far it goes. Same goes for this side, same length behind and to the right, if not more. Left was the delicious cafeteria and Cruze store.. 








:usa:








This picture came out pretty awesome. Got the robotic welder JUST as he spot welded the pillar assembly.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

And this is their Community Board. Appreciation months, statistics, charities, etc. Last year they raised $10 Million for charities alone? (Could be wrong on the number, something like that though.)


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## Bac n Black (Aug 2, 2012)

What a great opportunity you had, and how fortunate for us that you were able to share so much. Thanks.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

cwerdna said:


> - At Nissan and IIRC, Toyota and Ford, they had a sheet taped to the front of the car as it moved down the line the basically indicated everything about that car in terms of what it should be equipped with. Did they have that there?





XtremeRevolution said:


> I'm not sure if they had a sheet. All of the stations had "kits" that I believe were assigned to a given VIN number as the car rolled down the assembly line. The sheet may have been there, but I didn't notice it.


Regarding the sheet, it looks like things may have evolved at Nissan.

I stumbled across The Final Frontier - YouTube today and it looks like they instead put on two sheets: one on each door, instead of one on the front.

My 1st auto plant tour ever was Mazda in Hiroshima in 01. I only became aware of the sheet when the Nissan tour guide pointed out the sheet and its purpose when I went on their tour in 03.

As I've pointed out before, if you want to see more videos of auto plants in operation (including GM), see http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/32-c...olet-malibu-plant-new-wide-open-throttle.html, http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/17-o...s-tesla-roadster-chevy-volt-jaguar-c-x75.html and http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/17-o...-corvette-camaro-porsche-dodge-viper-etc.html.

The Camaro ep from Oshawa Ontario is pretty thorough. I watched it long ago. I think it's worth watching, even if you have no interest in the car.

From the Volt ep above, it looks like GM also employs such a sheet, taped to the hood of the car.

I'm surprised there's been little to no response in those threads...


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

Since the possibility of a future tour has come up, I would be interested in going since I'm only a couple of hours away from Lordstown. I suggest offering two or three tour dates to the members of Cruzetalk so that as many as possible can attend.


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## zr1000a1 (Jan 25, 2012)

OnlyTaurus, you are hired too! As soon as I figure out what business to open. I think I will tailor my management style kind of like one of the Colonel's on MASH. I will sign without looking anything Radar puts in front of me, and hide when the Generals show up for an inspection. A well run machine! Better hire some Ex Corporal's and Sergeant's that can get the job done too.
Seriously, great job goes to both you and Xtreme.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

GoldenCruze said:


> Since the possibility of a future tour has come up, I would be interested in going since I'm only a couple of hours away from Lordstown. I suggest offering two or three tour dates to the members of Cruzetalk so that as many as possible can attend.


Like I said, I don't know when they will have a public tour available, but I can contact Tom at Lordstown to see if he'd be willing to set one up for CruzeTalk members. Once I get a yay or nay from him regarding whether or not it's a possibility, i'll create a thread about it.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

No problem! I was just greatly appreciative Andrei included me in the tour roster, and got to experience this. It certainly would have been nice to tour the other centers he has, but I'm grateful to experience how our cars are manufactured. My work schedule would not have allowed me to visit the others without a warning ahead of time anyways, lol.

It was funny, we were sitting down eating lunch, Tom introduces us to the Plant manager. Like Andrei said they were both in awe over the forum we have here. I swear, when I told them we have over 6,000 registered members and over 3 times as many visitors, you could tell it struck both of them. Jaws to the floor, they had no idea the kind of thing we have here was going on.

I'm a Cruze lover just like the rest, and I try to share useful information as I find it, technical or general. Me being a professional tech that concentrates on these vehicles particularly I think gives me the advantage to be able to provide answers, suggestions, etc., when I can. I actually hope one day I could climb the ladder here and become a mod. Definitely would be an honor as well, especially if this forum is going to grow dramatically like Andrei and I feel.


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## fastdriver (Jan 7, 2011)

*Andrei, OnlyTaurus and Tom Read-*

THANK YOU for an informative and eye opening view of the proud, hard-working people who build our car and all that is involved in making the final product. The many checks and balances involved with our Cruzes is very gratifying to read about. I am also VERY happy to see that maybe many of these same men and women involved in this process may be reading these topics and find things that they can recheck on their end in order to make the Cruze more "defect-free", since the 4 million mile thing didn't do so well as far as I'm concerned. I love the section involving the quality control aspect, both the humans who check the car as well as the computers. Also happy to read that they send some defective spark plugs through the line in an effort to see if the computer is doing its job! I venture to say that the humans are better at this than the computer since many plugs were gapped incorrectly from the factory. This could be one area that they can recheck. The other issue mentioned in these topics is the transmission overfill. Not sure if there is a computer to check that also at the factory. I am sure that there are many other things that could be addressed at the factory that people complain about here that would NOT involve any extra $$$$ on GMs part, but would make many more happy customers in the real world.

Since the quality control seems to be #1 at the factory, MAYBE the administrative people there can put a bug in Ackerson's ear that when a customer has a problem with their car that the DEALERSHIP service departments could use a "little" #1 QUALITY CONTROL training to back up the plant workers who take pride in what they do! As far as I'm concerned, if the dealer service falls flat, it reflects on the ENTIRE company including the factory people!

Anyway, thank you all again for this epic event. It wasn't as exciting as *YOU* replacing Ackerson, but, hey, one step at a time!:goodjob:

I am going to try and post three pics that a friend took of the Lordstown plant when they were passing thru the area. Hope it works.

View attachment 7269
View attachment 7270
View attachment 7271


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer said:


> Mitsubishi's legendary 4G63 does.


No longer made, I think. I owned an EVO VIII. It was the greatest driving experience of any car I've ever had. I was incredibly stupid to sell it when I thought Mitsubishi was going to pull out of the US market. Fabulous, fabulous car.


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Xtreme did you get to see where they paint the Cruzes and do you have any pics of that ?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Xtreme did you get to see where they paint the Cruzes and do you have any pics of that ?


No, did not get a chance to go in there. They would have had to blow our hair through, put us in the equivalent of hazmat suits, and it would have been too much of a hassle. Don't want any contamination entering that area if you know what I mean.


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Did you notice if they were any changes to the wheels for 2013?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Did you notice if they were any changes to the wheels for 2013?


Looking around, I noticed no significant changes.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

silverls is having issues posting in this specific thread, so he's asked me to make his post for him.



silverls said:


> It has been said a few times now, but not by me. So here goes.
> 
> To XR, Taurus, and Tom, thank you.
> 
> ...


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Looking around, I noticed no significant changes.


Any changes to LTZ wheels ?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Any changes to LTZ wheels ?


I wasn't paying enough attention to notice.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> silverls is having issues posting in this specific thread, so he's asked me to make his post for him.


:th_salute::th_salute::th_salute:


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

zr1000a1 said:


> This thread accentuates that problems are coming more from the vendor/supplier end, and that is where concentration needs to be put to bring the quality up to the next level.


It is true that the vast majority of components in the car are supplier sourced, and therefore the vast majority of quality control problems originate with the supplier of the parts. I can tell you with absolute certainty that GM and other large car companies are VERY involved with the suppliers where quality is concerned, and most often their level of involvement is higher than the supplier would wish! Joking aside, quality is taken very seriously and just about every conceivable metric of the supplied parts is understood by GM.



zr1000a1 said:


> The question I would have is how much of the initial design and development of the parts comes from GM, and how do they follow through with the supplier all the way through the development to production. Does GM just tell a supplier we need a water pump with this pattern and dimensions and flow rate or is there more involvement?


A company the size of GM has a specialized Engineering department for every vehicle system. There's a Body group, a Trim group, a Powertrain group, etc. These groups work closely with the suppliers from the very beginning of a vehicle design to well into the production of the vehicle. Actually, the relationship is not over until the vehicle is no longer in production.

The level of involvement on GM's part will vary depending on the type of part. For a simple off the shelf fastener, GM will not get involved with the supplier unless there are supply or QC issues to be dealt with. For a more complicated part such as a trim piece, GM often will rely on the supplier for a certain amount of design input, but will also have their own people involved who have lots of experience designing similar parts for other vehicles (as well as the folks responsible for styling). There are also GM's Best Practices, a set of guidelines that are constantly being revised based on past, current and evolving knowledge on part and system design. Once a final design is settled on, producing the parts to the agreed upon design and specs becomes the supplier's responsibility.

This is a very vague overview of the process, and in no way does it cover all of the bases regarding the supplier's relationship to GM. It would be naive and irresponsible of me to suggest otherwise. It should give you a basic idea, though.



zr1000a1 said:


> The next question would be quality control and inspection, and rejection. What is the failure rate until rejection of all parts? What is the design life of certain parts?


I'm not sure what you mean by "Design Life" (Service Life?), but I can comment on the first part of your question.

Rejection of all parts suggests that all parts in inventory are considered bad and so are parts currently being produced. If this is the case and the quality defect is serious enough, you, the supplier, stop the line. This is bad, very very bad, and is avoided at all costs. Stopping an assembly plant costs GM a TON of money every minute that goes by, and if the problem is the sole fault of the supplier these costs are passed along to them. Margins are generally very tight in the supply world, and it wouldn't take much of a line stoppage to eat through the expected profits planned for the duration of the entire program! This is a known risk and one taken by just about every automotive supplier.

A quality issue at the plant is immediately assessed for severity. How serious is the problem (cosmetic, functional, safety)? What % of cars are affected? Is the fix a simple obvious one, or does Engineering and QC need involvement? Is it assembly or part related? Is it caused by a supplier part, the car body, the interaction between two supplier parts?

If it's a one or two car per day issue, the vehicles will be quarantined if not able to be fixed on the line, and a few vehicles will be presented to QC and Engineering staff. A sorting technique will be implemented to identify bad parts (if it's a part issue) and the problem will be monitored and repaired as necessary.

If it's a more serious issue that requires problems corrected or changes made at the supplier level, a 3rd party sort and/or rework will be established to filter bad parts from the system and manually correct them if possible. This is expensive, and the duration of these sorts is kept as short as possible (i.e. corrections are made QUICKLY).

There are many other scenarios, but these generally describe a few of the experiences I had. As far as I know, there was not a part related stoppage during my time with the supplier I worked for. Absolutely incredible when you understand the scope of a car assembly plant.

This is just the process inside the assembly plant. Once the cars are in owners hands the landscape changes dramatically. This goes into the problem reporting system and is generally started at the dealership level, delivered to the assembly plant staff, and then on to Engineering or QC as necessary.

There are a lot of fantastically intelligent and hard working people involved in producing a car. I had the privilege of working with some of them. Working for a supplier, I also felt the pressure (!) if things weren't going the way they wanted. In the end their goal is to ensure a quality product. They are proud of what they do, and at the end of the day their jobs are much easier if their customers are happy.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I've now posted this thread on the following forums:

w-body.com
gmwbody.com
gmforum.com
clubgp.com
hptuners.com
regalgs.org
ls1tech.com

If anyone is a member of any other forums, please feel free to share this thread. I'd imagine any car enthusiast would consider it, at minimum, an enjoyable and informative read.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> I wasn't paying enough attention to notice.


Hard to pay attention when drooling over the entire manufacturing setup. :th_coolio:


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## zr1000a1 (Jan 25, 2012)

Blue Angel,
Thank you so much for such a detailed response. Very well done! Yeah, I was thinking service life. 

My other question would be, an I know that in this day with shrinking suppliers and cost cutting it is tougher, if it is found that there are to many rejections due to defects of a certain part or early failure out in the field with the customer, does most components have more than one supplier? I understand how horrendous it would be to have to stop an entire line because of one part. I think the Dodge Dart just had that problem on their line a couple weeks ago. I think it was a supplier problem getting them seats or something. 

On a side note, the other major trouble area seems to be software and programming related, and this is for all manufacturers. Getting the right algorithms and programming for all the powertrain components seems to be tougher than one thinks, especially for all the varying driving styles and environmental conditions. Nowadays even the radio and climate control can have software related problems, revisions and re-flashes. 

Thanks for your response, I appreciate this site and it's knowledgeable members!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

obermd said:


> Hard to pay attention when drooling over the entire manufacturing setup. :th_coolio:


When one is given the opportunity to tour facilities like this, there's a chance that the opportunity may not come up again in one's lifetime. At that point, you need to balance how much time you spend looking through a camera lens, and how much time you spend actually taking in everything that's happening around you so you can remember. 

Some people go on vacations, tours, or travels and miss much of what's there because they're much too focused on capturing the memory on "film." I wanted to be sure that I had enough to talk about as well as enough to show.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

zr1000a1 said:


> On a side note, the other major trouble area seems to be software and programming related, and this is for all manufacturers. Getting the right algorithms and programming for all the powertrain components seems to be tougher than one thinks, especially for all the varying driving styles and environmental conditions. Nowadays even the radio and climate control can have software related problems, revisions and re-flashes.


As a software engineer I can safely say that even though individual components of the software can be easy to design write and test, when you start combining them into real-time systems with randomly timed expected as well as random unexpected inputs you can get really strange interactions and bugs showing up. These interactions are almost impossible to recreate on demand and as a result the bugs they reveal are also almost impossible to detect and correct. GM just had this problem and was forced to recall the 2013 Malibu ECO for this very reason. I strongly suspect there is as yet an undetected software bug in Toyota's throttle control system in some of their older vehicles. (cwerdna - I read NASA's report and neither NASA or NHTSA ruled out a software bug. They just said they couldn't find one.) The only way to minimize this issue in software is to adopt the JPL/NASA programming culture and style where there are real restrictions on how and what software designers and coders are allowed to do as well as what happens when an error is detected. JPL and NASA blame and correct the process, not the people. JPL and NASA spent over a decade developing their culture and processes. I think most car manufacturers are still developing this culture, but the sooner they get there the sooner our software driven vehicles will be bug free. For anyone interested, JPL has release the non-proprietary version of their standards at JPL C Coding Standard - JPL Laboratory for Reliable Software.


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## Beaker (Mar 21, 2012)

Our tax dollars built a nice plant.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Beaker said:


> Our tax dollars built a nice plant.


Which is now building excellent motors. I'd call that a good investment. 

Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using AutoGuide.Com Free App


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Beaker said:


> Our tax dollars built a nice plant.


Yes they did. Why shouldn't the United States help it's manufacturing firms? It's the only way to even the playing field in durable manufacturing with every other industrialized nation.


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## jsusanka (Jan 31, 2011)

Sweeeet! Looks like tons of fun. Great write up.


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## GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer (Feb 26, 2011)

Beaker said:


> Our tax dollars built a nice plant.


Curious, how do you come to that conclusion?


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## GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer (Feb 26, 2011)

How much time did you spend with regards to looking at trans related stuff in Pontiac?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer said:


> How much time did you spend with regards to looking at trans related stuff in Pontiac?


Very little. I saw a few "dyno cells" where they were testing some transmissions, saw a large room with a bunch of transmissions all over the place, but I wouldn't be the kind of guy to recognize anything in that regard.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> No, did not get a chance to go in there. They would have had to blow our hair through, put us in the equivalent of hazmat suits, and it would have been too much of a hassle. Don't want any contamination entering that area if you know what I mean.


Yep. None of the tours I've been on included a visit to the paint shop.

I've seen some auto production documentaries and yes, there's a bunch of prep worked involved before you can go in and IIRC, having perfumes on can ruin paint. 

(Again, if people are interested in seeing more, esp. in video format, I've pointed to a bunch of TV shows to record and a YouTube video of Camaro production. In checking my TiVo, I can see there's a Porsche Panamera Ultimate Factories ep and a BMW (Z4) ep both on 9/5 on NGC. I've seen the BMW Z4 ep, but not the Panamera ep.)


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## GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer (Feb 26, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Very little. I saw a few "dyno cells" where they were testing some transmissions, saw a large room with a bunch of transmissions all over the place, but I wouldn't be the kind of guy to recognize anything in that regard.


I won't get into details but there is lot of politics between engine and transmission groups. Wouldn't have been surprised if trans was skipped. (no fault of Tom though)

Did they show you the large tilt cell in the non-firing dyno area? It used to simulate high g manuevers or grade testing. I'm thinking you likely breezed through when my dinghy tow testing was running, simulating running Baker and Davis Dam grades. Probably passed you in the hall when shuttling between firing and non-firing wings.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

GM_6T40_Trans_Engineer said:


> I won't get into details but there is lot of politics between engine and transmission groups. Wouldn't have been surprised if trans was skipped. (no fault of Tom though)
> 
> Did they show you the large tilt cell in the non-firing dyno area? It used to simulate high g manuevers or grade testing. I'm thinking you likely breezed through when my dinghy tow testing was running, simulating running Baker and Davis Dam grades. Probably passed you in the hall when shuttling between firing and non-firing wings.


In all fairness, the place is absolutely massive, lol. You get a workout just looking at everything in all of the sections. Tom did walk me through a place that sounds a little like what you were referring to. I didn't see the large tilt cell. It's a high chance that you did pass me, lol. 

If I'm ever through there again, we'll have to meet up.


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## 2013Cruze (Aug 4, 2012)

Xtreme what were you most impressed with and did you talk to any actual workers who bulid our cars?


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## fastdriver (Jan 7, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Very little. I saw a few "dyno cells" where they were testing some transmissions, saw a large room with a bunch of transmissions all over the place, but I wouldn't be the kind of guy to recognize anything in that regard.


Nothing ever came up or was mentioned about the 2011 shifting problems?


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## leo18_rod (Jan 24, 2012)

Wow AMAZING write up Andrei! Thank you so much for the hard work both you and OnlyTaurus put into this forum! It's truly a blessing to have people like you guys to help people like me that need a better understanding about our cars. After seeing all these pictures I've definitely added going to the Lordstown plant to my bucket list! I'd also like to thank Tom Read for giving you the opportunity to share this great experience with us! I'm a proud American and Cruze owner!

P.S- How was that Caddy CTS-V??? :th_coolio:


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

leo18_rod said:


> Wow AMAZING write up Andrei! Thank you so much for the hard work both you and OnlyTaurus put into this forum! It's truly a blessing to have people like you guys to help people like me that need a better understanding about our cars. After seeing all these pictures I've definitely added going to the Lordstown plant to my bucket list! I'd also like to thank Tom Read for giving you the opportunity to share this great experience with us! I'm a proud American and Cruze owner!
> 
> P.S- How was that Caddy CTS-V??? :th_coolio:


How was the CTS-V?

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/32-c...417-2012-cadillac-cts-v-coupe.html#post119905


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## leo18_rod (Jan 24, 2012)

Did you mention to Tom anything about the performance Stages for the Cruze?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

leo18_rod said:


> Did you mention to Tom anything about the performance Stages for the Cruze?


All I have from Tom is this link:

GM/Chevrolet Performance Working On Stage Kits For Cruze, Sonic: Rumormill | GM Authority

He mentioned that he doesn't know anything about it beyond that.


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

Wow, i'm surprised they let you take so many pics (the ones I got to see before crashing multiple times) from risk of reverse engineering and such. I'll have to read it when I sit down at my computer.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

Mick said:


> Wow, i'm surprised they let you take so many pics (the ones I got to see before crashing multiple times) from risk of reverse engineering and such. I'll have to read it when I sit down at my computer.


I don't think anything that he took pics of is anything that would be considered _that_ secretive.

If you've watched some of the documentaries that I cited in high def (e.g. Camaro and Volt assembly), you can see a lot of detail as well.


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> All I have from Tom is this link:
> 
> GM/Chevrolet Performance Working On Stage Kits For Cruze, Sonic: Rumormill | GM Authority
> 
> He mentioned that he doesn't know anything about it beyond that.


Is GMAuthority a reliable intel source for GM? Or are they rumor-based?


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

zr1000a1 said:


> Blue Angel,
> Thank you so much for such a detailed response. Very well done! Yeah, I was thinking service life.
> 
> My other question would be, an I know that in this day with shrinking suppliers and cost cutting it is tougher, if it is found that there are to many rejections due to defects of a certain part or early failure out in the field with the customer, does most components have more than one supplier? I understand how horrendous it would be to have to stop an entire line because of one part. I think the Dodge Dart just had that problem on their line a couple weeks ago. I think it was a supplier problem getting them seats or something.
> ...


No problem! It’s fun to share experiences. Obermd covered the software part of your post, I’ll cover the rest.
As far as service life goes, I’m trying to remember the exact terminology used… When we were doing cycle testing on our durability fixtures (windows up and down in a real sheet metal door to test seal abrasion resistance) we had to stop the test every so many cycles and document wear and material transfer. The term “Service Life” seems pretty close if I remember right, basically a number estimated by GM as the cycle count of the average window in a car at the hands of the average driver for a predetermined number of years. Then that average number is multiplied by a factor of X to make sure that the parts are design capable of exceeding requirements.

I also did an apprenticeship during college working in a durability testing facility for another large (HUGE actually) automotive supplier. The main thing tested in that department is latches (door, hood and trunk). You know the little glow in the dark trunk release handles inside many trunks now? They were testing the first ones while I was there.

The main thing I did was operate and monitor door latch cycling fixtures. These were large steel frames with heavy duty hinged door replicas, designed to imitate a specific car door in the real world (same length, weight and moment of inertia as the real door assembly), and a spring load is placed on the door to simulate the seal load - the outboard load placed on the door by the body and door seals. The whole thing is run off of a dedicated computer and PLC control, everything is actuated using pneumatic cylinders, and all motions are checked by proximity sensors. The door is opened against a spring which is calibrated to store a specified amount of “slam energy” (the minimum door closing energy specified by the customer) then released. Swinging shut, the door inertia has to overcome the calibrated seal load and the latch has to latch the door closed properly. Another cylinder locks and unlocks the latch (with a door opening attempt while locked), then the latch is released and the process starts over again.

The force required to unlatch the door (representing how hard you would have to pull on the door handle to open the door) was monitored using load cells and this was basically the pass/fail criteria were looking for, not actually a latch that failed to open (that would have taken FAR longer to validate, door latches are designed very carefully in that regard). These tests were done at ambient temperatures, as well as freeeezing cold (-40C) and unbearably hot and humid (80C at up to 90% RH!). These environmental conditions are based on memory going back 12 years or so… I may be off a bit, but not much. If you were working on a fixture in the hot chamber and set a wrench down for more than a few minutes it was too hot to pick up again with bare hands. We wore hooded winter parkas inside those chambers to keep us COOL.

The latches I was testing at that time were for Ford, and a few times the Ford Engineers would come in to look at latches that were failing the opening effort criteria and I would help them dismantle a latch and look inside at what was happening. As an apprentice, this was my first real eye opener as far as the world of automotive QC was concerned… so much effort, so much expense, so much testing, all to make sure the effort to open a door latch doesn’t exceed a certain amount to keep the customer happy. Yes, there is a safety aspect to this also, but the primary target was making the efforts “feel” right to the customer throughout the service life of the part. It is absolutely no wonder then, that car companies building cars on a much smaller scale (think high dollar supercars) utilise so many components from mass-market cars… they simply wouldn’t have the budget to fully develop mundane parts like door latches.

As far as parts being supplied by multiple sources, I’m sure that common hardware items like clips and fasteners would have multiple sources, but for vehicle specific parts I’m only aware of single source suppliers. Yes, the risk is higher when you put all of your eggs in one basket, but there simply isn’t the time or budget during a car launch to tool-up multiple suppliers for the same part. As far as I know, in many cases GM actually owns the tooling that the supplier uses to produce the parts (GM pays for tool development during the car launch). This allows them to “re-source” the parts from a different supplier should a lower bid come along to steal the business away from the current supplier, and they just hand the tooling over. This may sound a bit brutal, but it is a way for GM and other car companies to keep suppliers in line; there’s no way you would expect to charge them way more than it costs to make the part since some other company could offer to do it for less and take the business away from you. Make no mistake, automotive supply is a tough highly competitive business to be in. BUT, this is basically a reflection of how tough it is for a company like GM to stay competitive in the market while still making a profit on their vehicles.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Blue Angel said:


> As far as I know, in many cases GM actually owns the tooling that the supplier uses to produce the parts (GM pays for tool development during the car launch).


This may also be part of the reason the US Government decided to keep GM and Chrysler in business. I know there was a serious concern amongst US policy makers as well as competing auto manufacturers that allowing either GM or Chrysler to fail would have had a huge domino effect on the entire car industry in the country making it much harder for any car manufacturer to build cars here.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

obermd said:


> ...allowing either GM or Chrysler to fail would have had a huge domino effect on the entire car industry in the country making it much harder for any car manufacturer to build cars here.


Yep... these companies are absolutely massive, and allowing one of them to go under would send a blast wave right through the manufacturing world, not only in North America but globally as well. Financial support for these two giants was a necessary step for a lot of reasons, many of which I and most people cannot comprehend.

The following is only my opinion and is based soley on the limited reading I've done (so your mileage may vary). If the analysts numbers are correct, the US Gov't currently has about $15.6 Billion invested in GM (based on current stock price, Chrysler's loans have been repaid), but keeping the two companies alive saved roughly 1.5 Million jobs... that's about $10,400 per job saved. Since the average person employed by GM/Chrysler pays more than that in taxes every year, that's a pretty good return on investment I'd say (once again, my opinion only - take it for what it's worth).

That ROI gets better if GM's stock price rises before US Treasury Board sells it. Finance numbers above sourced here:

GM shuns political poster child role, bans candidate visits until after Election Day | General Motors news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

2013Cruze said:


> Xtreme what were you most impressed with and did you talk to any actual workers who bulid our cars?


The degree of precision, quality control, and error protection in the Flint engine plant. I didn't get to talk to any actual workers.


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## ErikBEggs (Aug 20, 2011)

Wow, this is a such a thorough and well presented thread. It is almost like a documentary (that more people need to see!). I know so many people who talk **** about GM and American cars / automakers / products that could use a dose of reality. *Inserts on facebook page*


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

Impressive! How do you guys get invited to these thing ? Are you guys moderators and contacted GM or did they contact you?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Patman said:


> Impressive! How do you guys get invited to these thing ? Are you guys moderators and contacted GM or did they contact you?


I've been working with Tom for a while on various powertrain related issues with the Cruze behind the scenes, the most significant of which was the spark plug gap issue. Based on my knowledge and understanding, Tom made the invitation, and I accepted. For the tour at Lordstown, I asked if I could bring Ryan along, since he was nearby and had been helping us quite a bit with some more technical insight.


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## Sunline Fan (Jul 29, 2012)

What a great thread! Thank you so much for doing this! It may not seem like it now, but these pictures will be invaluable in a few years when this generation is no longer produced or possibly even farther out when the Cruze is no longer in production. In my Sunline RV forum, we had a member take a whole bunch of pictures when he went to see his trailer being built back in 2006. It was the most number of pictures I ever saw of the plant (even though I had been myself in person), and they have been a real blessing since the company shut down just two short months after his pictures were taken.

I would be interested in hearing if there was a group Lordstown tour sometime too.

I too work for a supplier to the big 3, supplying aluminum wheels. We don't do any Cruze wheels at the moment, but they had a connection at Lordstown from the past. He got involved when I needed the GSU code for buying mine, but he hasn't responded to any of my questions since, including one about that yellow shipping form. I know it is really hard to make reliable connections too, and it's great when people are as excited about what they do as the enthusiasts are.

Thank you, Mr. Read, for the opportunity to share the great things you guys do!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

cwerdna said:


> I don't think anything that he took pics of is anything that would be considered _that_ secretive.
> 
> If you've watched some of the documentaries that I cited in high def (e.g. Camaro and Volt assembly), you can see a lot of detail as well.


That's correct. This is nothing you couldn't "reverse engineer" by having the actual motor in your hands. Pictures won't make the slightest difference. However, what I couldn't take pictures of was anything inside the Powertrain Headquarters. That place was full of developmental engines, transmissions, and powertrain components. Nothing I recognized, but certainly nothing I could take pictures of.


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## RAW2U (Jul 31, 2012)

:bowing:ccasion14::bestpost::th_dblthumb2::go::bowdown:


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## DuluthCruze (Aug 14, 2012)

Great thread! It was great to see how my car was built, and this pride of U.S. built cars is inspirational. I've had Subarus, Hondas, and VWs. But now I have two Dodges and a Chevy Cruze. It feels good to not own any foreign brands anymore and I think I kicked that habit for good. It seems to me that GM, Dodge/Chrysler, and Ford have all stepped up their game these last few years. It's great to see American car companies turning out cars that surpass the foreign nameplates in quality, looks, and performance. I'm very impressed with my '12 Cruze and test drove just about every other comparable offering on the market (except for Kia, I'll never go there). The Cruze beat them all in my humble opinion, and seeing the photos and write up from the 1.4T engine plant and Cruze assembly plant just reaffirms that GM has a great car on their hands.

Thanks to the guys at the Cruze plant who made your tour possible. Seeing GM embrace their enthusiastic believers like this is incredible. Way to go GM.


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## izzyizz (Mar 11, 2012)

VerY CooL :eusa_clap:


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

Blue Angel said:


> If the analysts numbers are correct, the US Gov't currently has about $15.6 Billion invested in GM (based on current stock price, Chrysler's loans have been repaid),
> ...
> 
> That ROI gets better if GM's stock price rises before US Treasury Board sells it. Finance numbers above sourced here:
> ...


From the article you cite, $26.2 billion is still owed to the government. This is close to the $26.4 billion cited at Government Motors: Why Won't D.C. Sell Its GM Stock? - DailyFinance

If the government were to sell all its shares on 8/26/12 (when GM closed on 8/24/12 at $21.18/share), per the article you cited:


> And judging by Friday's close of $21.18, the government would lose $15.6 billion on the bailout if it sold its 500.1 million shares.


There's also no way they could dump that many shares in a day. The stock would plummet. Just at a brief glance, I haven't seen a single day where over 60 million shares traded. Typical daily volume looks like ~10 million shares.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

Blue Angel said:


> Automotive manufacturing is a MASSIVE undertaking that the general public is completely incapable of comprehending. That is not meant to be a derogatory comment, it is however a FACT. As much of a car person as I have always been, before I worked in automotive I used to wonder how a car company could justify charging so much for a car. After seeing what I’ve seen it’s a wonder they can turn a profit. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles are sold before a car company ever sees a payback for the initial investment of developing a new car like the Cruze, hence the push towards commonisation and global development.
> 
> A Car Assembly Plant (CAP) process is a massive machine that requires a perfect coordination of hundreds-of-thousands of variables to operate smoothly and turn out a quality product. When you take into consideration the Just In Time supply chain as well as all of the inconsistency introduced by the imperfect fleshy human beings that this huge undertaking depends on, it is an absolute wonder of the modern world that a car-a-minute can be pumped out the business end of a CAP with high quality, consistency and reliability.


I've never worked in automotive but agree completely. The amount of engineering effort, coordination, testing, administrative overheard, certification, documentation, etc. that goes into designing, engineering then building and supporting a car is HUGE. Big automakers can at least amortize the cost over many vehicles and multiple models. This is why it's very tough for low volume automakers to turn a profit and stay in business, unless they sell something for a lot of money (but then it must be competitive against other vehicles from bigger automakers in that price range). 

I think that companies like Fisker and Coda will go under. Tesla's not turned a single profit yet.


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## Labrat0116 (Sep 7, 2012)

Awesome! This thread needs "STICKIED" to the top of the forum!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Labrat0116 said:


> Awesome! This thread needs "STICKIED" to the top of the forum!


Done.


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## NYCruze2012 (Jan 16, 2012)

Xtreme thank you so much for this inside look! My mind is just blown and I have a better understanding of the process my own car went through to get to me! 
Tom Read and others at GM if you see my post thank you for your dilligence to quality and precision, thank you for your dedication and commitment, and mostly thank you all for the car that I drive on a daily basis. I cant tell you all enough how much I enjoy it!


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## Hatje (Jun 23, 2011)

Reading this thread kinda put a downer on my perspective. on how the cruze is built.

Ive been to the honda plant where they build the civic and the toyota plant where the build the corolla and matrix.

Dont get me wrong its nice to see how the cars are made, but there arn't at all different or better than the oposition!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Hatje said:


> Reading this thread kinda put a downer on my perspective. on how the cruze is built.
> 
> Ive been to the honda plant where they build the civic and the toyota plant where the build the corolla and matrix.
> 
> Dont get me wrong its nice to see how the cars are made, but there arn't at all different or better than the oposition!


It's not so much the way the cars are assembled; you can only do something so differently, but how they're designed, how the *motors *are assembled, and what car it is that we're talking about. The new Civic is terrible, and the Corolla is the most dull and boring compact on the road.


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## fred266 (Apr 8, 2012)

I knew GM was on the right track when they came out with the 3600 and 3800 Series2 engines.My girlfriend has a Buick with one and its been running like forever.I had a buddy running with the 3600 V6 and it ran like a sewing machine,used no oil and ran like a "scalded ape" Folks on the internet crying for GM to produce more like these.They had a very good reliable product in these engines,I hope they kept the blueprints close.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

fred266 said:


> I knew GM was on the right track when they came out with the Duratec


Ummmm...that's Ford. And they're not very durable. The 3.0 was especially bad.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

fred266 said:


> I knew GM was on the right track when they came out with the Duratec


Welcome to CruzeTalk!


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## BigSkyMontana (Jan 5, 2013)

Wow, amazing stuff! The Cruze is my first GM vehicle and after reading and viewing the information presented it amazes me how much time, thought and effort was required to build such an amazing vehicle. It blows my mind. Now when I get in my Cruze I will be thinking about how well the car was designed, engineered and the high expectations of producing a fine tuned vehicle. I am impressed!


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## firehawk618 (Feb 24, 2013)

Wow freakin awesome article. I had no idea you could pay extra and build YOUR OWN ZR1 engine.

I swear the day I find a bag with a few million in it I WILL BE BUILDING MY OWN ZR1!


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## Gonzo74 (Mar 1, 2014)

So, did you ask them why they are mangling the design of the 2015 cruze? I mean really? They already had a solid design. Pretty solid stance. Now they go a new and horrible direction. Very disappointing. Back to bland in my opinion.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Gonzo74 said:


> So, did you ask them why they are mangling the design of the 2015 cruze? I mean really? They already had a solid design. Pretty solid stance. Now they go a new and horrible direction. Very disappointing. Back to bland in my opinion.


Check the date, lol. This happened August of 2012. 

Sent from AutoGuide.com App


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Check the date, lol. This happened August of 2012.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App


Besides that the 2015 cruze facelift makes sense when you look at the 2016 cruze, its a transitional thing to try and get people more use to the change. Of course I also find the new style boring/ugly but to compete in this class of cars you need to make exceptional aerodynamic numbers and exceed all the newer crash tests.


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## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

This tour may have happened a while back, but it is still very cool. It's nice to know that so much care was taken to design and build my car. 

It's also funny to see the small 1.4 block in the photos. They are so tiny. It would be cool to put one on a shelf in my house, or use it as a cup holder. LOL.


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## UlyssesSG (Apr 5, 2011)

*C'est très beau, est-ce pas?*



dhpnet said:


> This tour may have happened a while back, but it is still very cool. It's nice to know that so much care was taken to design and build my car.





dhpnet said:


> It's also funny to see the small 1.4 block in the photos. They are so tiny. It would be cool to put one on a shelf in my house, or use it as a cup holder.


*Would you consider perhaps using it as a cup holder on this spec-built Chevrolet Performance coffee table?*

​


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## MKsmn515 (Apr 12, 2014)

Nice thread. I'm a millwright and work in a lot of different car plants installing conveyor and robot cells.

Most recently I was in Sterling Heights where they make the Chrysler 200 over the Christmas and New Years shutdown

All these plants have pretty much the same setups for production


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## jc. (Jul 28, 2019)

[QUOTE = "XtremeRevolution, message: 119583, membre: 4009"]
À gauche, Tom Read, l'homme qui a fait tout cela. S'il y a quelqu'un que vous devriez remercier, c'est lui. Je viens de lui envoyer le lien vers cette page, alors n'hésitez pas à lui exprimer vos remerciements ici.










[/CITATION]its my 8 gm car,now its a turbo cruze 2012 and 188,000 km and no problêm all its original,juste water pump change in garanty at 162,000 km y love it.my next car its chevrolet équinox with 2.0 liter 2022 witn the engin of cadillac


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