General Motors Thailand and Southeast Asia Operations has built its millionth vehicle – a Chevrolet Trailblazer – since operations began in 2000 at the Rayong assembly plant.
The celebration coincided with a visit from new GM CEO Mary Barra and president Dan Ammann. Speaking at the celebration, Barra said, “Today’s milestone demonstrates why Thailand is so important to GM’s growth in southeast Asia, and helps reinforce our commitment to continually strengthen our investment in this facility.”
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“Everything starts with great products,” said Ammann. “Our plant in Rayong is an important member of GM’s regional and global manufacturing operation. It also is a key component of our consumer-centric and market-driven strategy for growing our product lineup and Chevrolet brand in the region.”
GM’s factory in Rayong has 4,300 employees. It was one of five new plants built outside North America in the late 1990s. It incorporates GM’s Global Manufacturing System (GMS), a company-wide production system based on the principles of lean manufacturing. The main elements of GMS include employee involvement, continuous improvement, standardisation, short lead time and built in quality.
Rayong can produce different models and variants on the same line without incurring unnecessary downtime. This enabled the facility to successfully launch a totally renewed lineup in the past two years. The facility enjoyed record exports last year, shipping almost 44,000 vehicles to 77 countries.
Barra and Ammann also visited GM Thailand’s Powertrain Facility and congratulated the team for building 100,000 engines from its opening in September 2011 to May 2013. The plant is producing second generation I4 Duramax turbodiesel engines and is GM’s only diesel engine plant in the region. It also is the first GM powertrain facility in the world to manufacture I4 Duramax engines.
