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Saturn : The Wilmington Plant
Since the August 6, 1996 announcement that Wilmington would be the assembly center for Saturn’s new mid-size vehicles, Saturn has invested more than $550 million to prepare the plant for its new role.
"With the skillet, operators don’t have to walk along with the car while performing the job," says John Milner, senior manufacturing engineer. "The skillets reduce fatigue and improve quality. Standing on a birch platform rather than concrete is a lot easier on your feet and legs. The system is also equipped with operator-controlled scissors lifts that elevate the car to a more ergonomically comfortable height." The use of skillets isn’t the only improvement designed to be ergonomically beneficial. In fact, Omowale Walker, UAW ergonomics representative pointed out several additional enhancements. "We added torque tubes to many of our tools. The tubes absorb the jarring impact which results when a tool properly torques down a bolt," Walker said. The manufacturing process also utilizes tools that are equipped with articulating arms. According to Walker, this helps team members manage the tool’s weight and make it easier to get the tool safely into the operating position. Another enhancement is the use of zero-balance hoists. "These hoists help operators pick up heavy objects like the car’s hood and lift gate. The zero-balance system of the hoist makes these parts virtually weightless," Walker pointed out. The zero-balance hoists are also in place in the Body Shop, where some previously manual welding operations are now automated. Similar ergonomic improvements are also evident in the Paint Shop, where robots now install the paint sealer. The similarities between the processes at Wilmington and Spring Hill don’t end with manufacturing. For example, Wayne Bigham, Director of Manufacturing Engineering at Wilmington, and one of the original group of 99 people who started Saturn, sees many similarities between the development of the S-Series and L-Series, and the people who build them. "In 1990, Saturn started with a blank sheet of paper," said Bigham. "The Saturn concept was primarily focused on a new approach to developing and building vehicles. And, although the L-Series provided us with a starting point further ahead in the product development cycle, we put a matrix in place to ensure the product evolution very much followed the Saturn way." However, as anyone familiar with Saturn knows, it’s not the facility or the process that makes a Saturn, it’s the people. Just as in Spring Hill, Wilmington offers a great deal of diversity. "In Spring Hill, the workforce comes from all over the country. Spring Hill isn’t just Tennessee, and Wilmington isn’t just Delaware. We’re a natural melting pot, just as Spring Hill was a deliberate melting pot," Bigham said. The similarity between Wilmington Assembly and Saturn is one reason the Corporation chose to build its new mid-sized cars in Wilmington. Team members in both locations take pride in workmanship and are devoted to quality. "All of us at Wilmington Assembly worked very hard to prepare for our future as a Saturn plant," said UAW Local 435 team member Pete Ciamaricone. "Building high-quality cars is our hallmark here at Wilmington, and we are proud to be a part of the Saturn team." A key requirement for any Saturn team member is training. And its importance isn’t lost on Wilmington team members, who currently complete an average of 40 hours of training per year. "Saturn places a great deal of importance on training and teams," said Jim Jones, UAW 435 training instructor. "At Wilmington, we started using the team approach more than two years ago. We also developed a training course called ‘Team Saturn.’ It’s designed to help our team members understand the Saturn team philosophy and how Wilmington fits into Saturn." All Wilmington team members will complete the course, which not only educates team members about the Saturn brand, mission and philosophy, but also celebrates Wilmington’s 52-year history. "Wilmington Assembly is one of the original colonies," explains Plant Manager Harvey Thomas, who was previously the Saturn Vehicle Systems Team Leader. "The first car built at Wilmington was a black Pontiac Streamliner. Building Saturns here means that in its over-50-year history, Wilmington people have built a vehicle from every General Motors brand." Before building the new mid-size Saturns, the Wilmington assembly center built the successful Chevrolet Malibu. source : Saturn, General Motors
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