General Motors Corp.'s decision Wednesday to push back production of its critical small car to its original period shows the automaker is learning from past troubled launches, Lordstown Complex officials said.
''It's a good thing,'' Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112 at the Lordstown East assembly plant, said of the announcement that the Chevrolet Cruze will be launched later in the summer, perhaps early in August, instead of April. ''We've made mistakes in the past with bad launches, and we won't do it again because it's that important.''
Dave Green, president of Local 1714 of the Lordstown West Metal Center, said it's not uncommon for automakers to move a launch date, adding he thinks it's the right thing.
''They want to make sure the car will meet or exceed customer expectations,'' said Green, adding he was told the company is studying a number of issues. ''If the vehicle isn't 100 percent, it's better to wait to put it on the market.''
The new plan calls for the complex to stay on two production shifts ''for the foreseeable future'' to keep building the Chevrolet Cobalt small car, Lordstown spokesman Tom Mock said. Cobalt production will end once the complex shifts to the Cruze, he added. Previously, GM intended to keep building the Cobalt after launching the Cruze.
Leaders said the new schedule doesn't suggest any problems with new machinery that's been installed in the factories, or with the Cruze's design or engineering.
Mock noted the company originally planned to introduce the Cruze in the summer, when automakers typically bring out new models. He said the later launch will give the complex time to build more validation Cruzes to ensure the new cars' quality and offer a full range of equipment packages to meet customer needs.
''It'll make it easier for the customer, and give them great choices,'' he said. ''We'll have a high-volume vehicle with all the options available.''
Mock said the complex has built about 10 test Cruzes and will make about 100 before year's end to make sure ''everything fits OK, and make sure workers are properly trained.''
Some 1,000 validation Cruzes will be built in the first half of next year to ''get as many miles on the vehicles as possible to make sure they have the durability customers expect,'' he said. ''This will set us up for a flawless launch.''
Union leaders said the announcement concerned their members at first.
''There were a lot of questions about Cobalt production. People who had just come back to work were worried they may get laid off again. I was told that's not the case,'' said Green, whose local has 850 members working and 79 on layoff.
Hourly workers returned early September and early October after a nine-week shutdown that started June 1 as GM tried to work off a glut of unsold vehicles. The second shift returned to work Oct. 5.
Graham, whose local has roughly 2,400 active members and about 400 on layoff, said Lordstown ''absolutely will keep the second shift on. We'll produce Cobalts until the third quarter, when we start making the Cruze.''
GM around the first of the year moved up the Cruze launch as it struggled with plunging sales due to the worsening credit crisis. The company eventually filed for a federal government-led Chapter 11 bankruptcy June 1, emerging in July as a smaller, leaner company.
One major demand government leaders made before lending GM what has reached $52 billion in taxpayer money was that the reorganized company would rely more on fuel-efficient vehicles and less on gas-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The Cruze is expected to get at least 40 miles a gallon or more, depending on its engine and other features.
A key factor is the drastic overhaul GM has done on the Lordstown complex to prepare it to make the Cruze. The automaker has invested $351 million in the two factories, mostly in a new body shop that will boast flexible welding robots and other equipment so the complex will be able to build as many as seven different body styles, depending on which ones are hot-sellers.
The company also has installed modern transfer presses in the metal stamping plant to make that operation more efficient.
Lordstown will use the extra months to make sure all the machinery and processes are working, officials said.
The complex has had its share of troubled launches, notably in 1994 when the drastically redesigned 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier trickled off the line, frustrating customer and dealers.
As with the Cruze, GM emphasized the need for quality in the 1995 Cavalier. It spent hundreds of millions of dollars to install high-tech machinery for that launch. It organized more workers into teams and combined job assignments. It focused more on using outside suppliers to build sections of the car, such as instrument panels and seating systems, which led to delays.
Graham said GM's decision shows it won't repeat such mistakes.
''Too many times in the past we've hurried cars, and we've had problems. We've learned from our mistakes,'' he said.
