Only Manufacturer with year-over-year overall improvement for over 15 years

GM global manufacturing system helps drive results

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - General Motors (GM) improved overall productivity, last year, according to "The Harbour Report North America 2008." The Harbour Report measures North American automotive manufacturers' assembly, powertrain and stamping plant productivity.

GM is the only manufacturer to consistently improve year-over-year overall in the history of the annual report. The company's Toledo, Ohio, transmission plant was the most productive transmission plant in North America for the second year in a row, at 2.37 hours per transmission.

Additionally, three of GM's assembly plants, five of its engine plants and two stamping plants were ranked in the top 10 in productivity in their respective categories. GM improved its overall manufacturing productivity slightly by 0.2 percent over last year, despite an 8 percent production volume decrease

Gary Cowger, GM group vice president of Global Manufacturing and Labour Relations, maintains that GM's Global Manufacturing System (GMS) has helped GM sustain its year-over-year overall productivity  improvements by helping the company build vehicles more efficiently.

"For GM to have taken out volume and launched several new products last year and still show a positive overall productivity improvement, speaks very strongly for GMS and the entire North American team, including union leadership, management and our employees," said Cowger. "GM has consistently improved productivity, and is the only manufacturer to show year-over-year improvements for the last 15 years of the Harbour study."

GM's efficiency gains have also been fuelled by the company's continued improvements in product quality. "GM's productivity improvements are also directly tied to our commitment to capture industry leadership in quality," added Cowger. "Building higher quality products allow our manufacturing operations to run more efficiently by eliminating all forms of waste."

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