Filed under: Etc., Plants/Manufacturing, GM, Canada
GM Plant earns J.D. Power Founder's Award
Sure, the Chevrolet Impala and Buick LaCrosse are not the most exciting models in GM's lineup, but the Oshawa, Ontario plant that's been cranking out well-assembled W-platform vehicles for years has won a rare honor from J.D. Power and Associates. Power's Founder's Award is reserved for people or corporations that J.D and friends feel are uncommonly dedicated to continual improvement for customers. Oshawa has racked up plenty of Gold and Silver plant awards, and J.D. Power's senior VP for US automotive practice, Gary Dilts, was on hand to present the award to plant manager Dan Hermer and Chris Buckley, president of CAW local 222. It's a scarce bit of positive news about a domestic automaker, and the fact that the plant has demonstrated such a drive to turn out high quality products bodes well for the Camaro, which is set to start rolling out of the Oshawa complex soon.
[Source: J.D. Power]
J.D. Power and Associates Reports: The General Motors Oshawa Assembly Plant Receives the Prestigious J.D. Power and Associates 'Founder's Award' for Vehicle Assembly Plant Quality Excellence
OSHAWA, Ontario, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Founder's Award was presented to the General Motors Oshawa Car Assembly Plant and members of CAW Local 222 for its long-standing commitment to producing high-quality vehicles.
Gary Dilts, senior vice president of the U.S. automotive practice at J.D. Power and Associates, presented Dan Hermer, Oshawa Car Assembly Plant manager and Chris Buckley, Local 222 President, with the award on behalf of J.D. Power and Associates. The award was presented today at an award ceremony held at the General Motors Oshawa Car Plant/Stamping Facility in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
"In recognition of its long history of producing vehicles of excellent quality, J.D. Power and Associates is pleased to present GM's Oshawa Assembly Plant with a Founder's Award," said Dilts. "During the past seven years, the General Motors Oshawa Plant has received four Gold and two Silver Awards for plant quality in North America in the annual J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study. This is far more awards than any other plant has received in the region over this period, and is a testament to the hard work of all GM employees at the facility as well as to GM management and suppliers."
The Founder's Award is a discretionary award presented at various times by J.D. Power and Associates to recognize individuals or companies that demonstrate dedication, commitment and sustained improvement in serving customers. In the 40-year history of J.D. Power and Associates, only 22 companies or individuals have previously received the award.
The Oshawa Car Assembly Plant is one of the largest automotive production sites in the world, responsible for the production of various General Motors models during the past 55 years. The plant has received multiple J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study awards including: Gold Plant awards in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006; as well as Silver Plant awards in 2005 and 2007. In addition, the plant has produced several vehicle models that have received Initial Quality Study awards, including the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Buick Century and the Chevrolet Lumina.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christian de Saint Preux 4:48PM (9/28/2008)
Wao!
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Brandon 5:01PM (9/28/2008)
Whoa...I swore I read "GM Plant owner J.D. Power Found Dead"
I need to lay off the Zyrtec...
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Amien 5:05PM (9/28/2008)
Lol wtf?
Randy 5:35PM (9/28/2008)
that might be an example of "realized perception" where you read so many negative things about something and your brain automatically associates "GM" with negative things. Hence I get so pissed off when they over due reports on US automakers but under report things on imports when something bad happens.
Randy
Kitko 6:43PM (9/28/2008)
I'm with my brother Amien on that.
A) One sparrow doesn't make a summer. In this case, giving award to a GM plant is like this: I have a state-of-the-art freezer at home, but my meat got rotten and ice-cream melted since I can't afford to pay for the electricity.
B) I don't think JD Power's marketing, research, results have much relevance to the real world motoring. Their opinions and methods are often controversial and not for good reasons. Giving award for the best luxury car to an $90K S-classe just on the grounds that owners thought it offers better comfort than S-classe rivals is about as exact as performing neurological surgery with a stone axe.
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BHendrix 8:06PM (9/28/2008)
Did you read the thing at all before posting? Your reply is such a knee-jerk reaction, it's almost nonsensical.
It clearly says that the award was given to the Oshawa plant, not to any individual GM model, and certainly not to the entirety of General Motors. It also states that the plant in question has been winning awards for years--slightly longer than 'one summer.'
(And your 'brother' Amien's reply doesn't mean what you think it does. Good grief...)
Gardiner Westbound 7:14PM (9/28/2008)
An award winning plant means squat to GM if it can get the cars built elsewhere for 5-cents less.
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psarhjinian 7:20PM (9/28/2008)
I wouldn't call this "rare". Oshawa has been recognized time and again as one of the highest-quality plants of any manufacturer, anywhere.
When people talk about Buick besting Lexus, it's because of Oshawa, as the Regal, Century and Lacrosse/Allure are the reason for that ranking--they finish far above the Lucerne and it's antecedents, as well as Buick's trucks. In fact, GM's quality rankings are largely on the shoulders of Oshawa and it's products (the W-Bodies and the Sierra/Silverado).
Of course, that didn't stop GM from shuttering Oshawa Truck, or (and this is a given) moving the next Lacrosse to the Malibu's platform, and likely to Orion assembly.
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Judy Zik 7:53PM (9/28/2008)
That plant has won so many awards they must be running out of places to put them. Maybe they can use some of the space left over in the also award winning Truck plant that GM just closed next door?
The reality is if you have 600 plant quality awards and $10 all the bean counters see is the $10.
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Brian 8:38PM (9/28/2008)
Bring on the union haters to try and down play this. This is proof that the CAW and UAW aren't the lazy slobs people make them out to be.
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Allen George 8:44AM (9/29/2008)
They should be building high-volume products at that plant . . .
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Papi L-Gee 10:47AM (9/29/2008)
You know how many Impalas get sold to Avis and Enterprise that come from that plant?
Granted, I do like the Impala, but it is what it is...
Nobody Special 11:40AM (9/29/2008)
Anything is possible in the auto world nowadays, and that's all fine and well.
But I couldn't give a crap about what J.D. Power says - next thing they'll be experts on will be toilet paper.
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