General Motors of Canada president Michael Grimaldi has announced a $C2,500,000,000 investment in the automaker’s local operations.
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GM claims it is the largest and most comprehensive automotive investment in Canadian history. Following agreements with the Ontario provincial and Canadian federal governments, GM’s “Beacon Project” investments will strengthen automotive engineering, R&D and manufacturing capabilities in the country.
New vehicle programmes
GM Canada will proceed with major investments in new vehicle and engine technology at its operations in Oshawa, St. Catharines and the CAMI joint venture in Ingersoll, Ontario.
The company confirmed that its Oshawa Car Plant 1 will build the 2006 Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo mid-size cars and the CAMI Automotive joint venture will build the new 2006 Pontiac Torrent compact SUV. GM Canada will also introduce a new application of the fuel-efficient “displacement-on-demand” V8 engine to be built at its St. Catharines Powertrain plant.
General Motors of Canada president Michael Grimaldi has announced a $C2,500,000,000 investment in the automaker’s local operations.
Enhanced vehicle engineering
The new vehicle programmes are also being supported by increased product and manufacturing engineering services carried out at GM’s Canadian engineering centre in Oshawa. GM is currently the only automaker with extensive engineering activities in Canada. The Beacon Project will increase these capabilities in support of its global vehicle development process. In addition, investments are included to support fuel cell research, development initiatives and the creation of a state-of-the-art virtual product development ‘visualisation centre’.
Flex manufacturing and environmental leadership
GM Canada also said it would proceed with major new investments in flexible manufacturing processes and technologies at its number two Oshawa car assembly plant. These investments will enable the plant to adapt quickly to customer and vehicle market changes and to produce a multitude of vehicle models and platforms on the same assembly line.
The company also said it would proceed with significant investments in industry leading environmental technologies as part of a new paint shop that will support the Oshawa Autoplex – the largest auto assembly complex in the western hemisphere. The new paint shop investments will increase the total production capacity of GM’s Oshawa car plants while also setting a new environmental benchmark among Canadian auto plants.
Employment and skills training
The Beacon project is also an investment in the GMCL workforce, and will add approximately 500 jobs in total at GM’s engineering centre and CAMI Automotive. GM has prioritised skills upgrading and training programs to support the Beacon Project investments. GM will also establish a number of new apprenticeships to be offered in Oshawa and CAMI. GM and CAMI will also create internship opportunities for foreign trained professionals such as engineers in conjunction with the Career Bridge programme.
New Canadian Automotive Innovation Network
A strategic, longer term aspect of the Beacon Project is the creation of a major initiative to enhance automotive innovation and commercially realisable research and development in the automotive supply chain in Canada. GM Canada already makes more automotive supply purchases than any other automotive manufacturer in Canada and, together with the Ontario government, will create a new Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) to better link participating automotive companies, suppliers, universities, researchers and students in the area of automotive innovation and engineering.
The new Automotive Centre of Excellence will anchor a new and much broader Canadian Automotive Innovation Network comprised of selected universities in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, led by GM’s Canadian engineering centre. Founding members of the Innovation Network will include McMaster University, University of British Columbia, University of Waterloo, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Université de Sherbrooke, McGill University, Ecole Polytechnique Montréal, Université du Québec Institut national recherche scientifique and Auto 21.
GM Canada will invest in the Innovation Network to enhance the competitiveness of the Canadian automotive industry through leading edge R&D. This will include investments in new research projects, design and research chairs at select Canadian universities, as well as in-kind donations by GM and partners, of computer-based design tools that will help train a new generation of Canadian engineering students. GM Canada will also work with its university partners to develop Canada’s first accredited degrees in automotive engineering and design.
Grimaldi said: “This $2.5 billion investment demonstrates GM’s strong commitment to Canada’s automobile industry. The partnerships comprehended in the Beacon Project are critical to successfully compete in an industry going through a challenging global transformation with production over-capacity.”
