GM's Productivity Most Improved; Transplants Continue To Lead Domestic Producers.(Brief Article)

General Motors Corp.'s assembly, stamping and powertrain operations helped the automaker outpace all other multi-plant manufacturers with an overall productivity improvement of nearly 8.5 percent, according to The Harbour Report 2001 North America, generated by Harbour and Associates Inc. GM's assembly operations were the most improved with a 9.4 percent gain.

Nissan's North American auto plants were the industry's most productive for the seventh straight year, while Ford Motor Co. led domestic automakers, according to the respected Harbour Report.

But despite the strides the U.S. automakers made, Japanese automakers still retained the top spots, with Nissan leading in overall assembly productivity, followed by Honda. Toyota finished at or near the top of the rankings throughout the report. Productivity is measured by the number of worker hours it takes to build a vehicle.

The report is prepared annually by Harbour, a Troy, Mich.-based manufacturing and management consulting business.

Nissan's Smyrna, Tenn., operation was the No. 1 plant in the car segment, followed by Ford's Atlanta plant. Ford's Twin Cities plant was No. 3 in the truck segment, as Nissan's Smyrna plant took the top two spots. Last year, Ford led in both segments. "Over the years, Nissan has put an enormous amount of brainpower and investment into designing its vehicles, processes and systems," said Emil Hassan, Nissan North America senior vice president of North American manufacturing, purchasing, quality and logistics.

When broken into 12 segments, GM led in four and Nissan in three. In general, the report said automakers that strived to become leaner managed to better weather the industry's U.S. sales slowdown. Ford led in five segments a significant drop from last year when the automaker led in 11. "Are we satisfied? No. We are working to improve not only in labor productivity - which accounts for 10 percent of the cost of the vehicle - but also in the cost elements making up the other 90 percent," Ford said in a statement. DaimlerChrysler AG did not lead in any of the 12 vehicle segments.

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