Corvette assembly plant story - NCRS Discussion Boards

Corvette assembly plant story

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  • D S.
    Extremely Frequent Poster
    • February 28, 2005
    • 1551

    Corvette assembly plant story

    This email was sent to me from the person who drove his 2003 Corvette convertible at the Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend. A married couple, Cindi and Ron, got to watch the Corvette assembly plant at Bowling Green build their own new Corvette. Here's the email telling of their experiences:

    All,



    Cindi and I just returned from a week in "Bowling Green, Kentucky" watching our Corvette being assembled. As a "car nut" it was quite a thrill and very educational. Cindi really enjoyed it as well.



    We were absolutely treated like "royalty" for the four days we spent on the assembly line. From "Paul Graham" the Plant Manager to the dozens of assembly line workers we met; everyone was extremely nice. The Production manager "Tony" stopped by a couple of times a day to check on us; and every day many assembly line workers stepped away from their work station to shake our hands and thank us for buying a Corvette. They are so concerned for their families and their associates in these uncertain times.



    They are currently building only 51 Corvettes a day and that is why the build took four days. In good times the rate would be more than three times that and you could watch the whole process in about a day. Since you must have a personal guide "the four days" will soon become an issue and they anticipate changes in the "Buyers/Photo Album Tour". As it turned out we witnessed the entire process in such detail that few have experienced. We were at the plant at 6 AM each day (up at 4:30) and after four days I was beginning to feel like an employee. As we would walk by "build areas" where our car had been on previous days some workers would wave and say "Hi Ron/Cindi".



    When General Motors moved the Corvette Plant from "St Louis" to the totally new facility in "Bowling Green" (over 20 years ago) the new plant was state of the art. Now compared to the latest automobile plants the corvette production is very labor intensive with approximately 450 assembly line workers producing 51 cars a day. The plant is currently only building pre-sold Corvettes. Operating only one shift a day five days a week the plant overhead is killing profit potential. The plant was closed from Christmas until March 6 and the current plan is to shut down again in a couple of weeks until additional orders meet their quota for a re-start. The Corvette Plant cannot survive many months in the mode they are currently in.



    Some people who were very nice to us last week turned in their badges last Friday and do not have jobs today. They were a part of the 63 laid-off Friday.



    There is a lot on the news about the "US Autoworkers". What Cindi and I saw at the Bowling Green Plant were skilled, caring, hard working, employees with tremendous pride in their product.



    We had a wonderful time last week, but we brought some of their sadness home.



    Take care all.......................ron & cindi
  • Kurt B.
    Very Frequent User
    • July 31, 1996
    • 971

    #2
    Re: Corvette assembly plant story

    A very touching story.
    Based on Ron & Cindi's observations and also mine when I toured the Bowling Green facility many years ago, it seems that the people assembling the Corvettes are not the average auto worker that is referred to when people talk about the poor workmanship of the american auto worker.
    The Bowling Green workers are definitely of better quality and appear to take pride in the product they are building. Sad to see them experiencing the current difficulties as result of the economy.
    Kurt

    Comment

    • Bill I.
      Very Frequent User
      • January 28, 2008
      • 554

      #3
      Re: Corvette assembly plant story

      That's a wonderful account of your experience, but with a sad note re: our economy. Let us hope it gets better. Bill.

      Comment

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