Letter From Paul Graham, Bowling Green Assembly Plant
Bowling Green Assembly Employees,
JD Power results are in, and I am proud to deliver the exciting results for the Chevrolet Corvette and Bowling Green Assembly team.
First, the Chevrolet Corvette was ranked the Best GM Model.
- The Chevy Corvette score came in at 71 PPH, placing us at the top of the pack for all GM models. This is an improvement of 21 points from our previous year?s score of 92 PPH. In addition, our car came in at the top of its segment ? beating our fierce competitor, Porsche, by 1 PPH. This is truly an awesome victory. Unfortunately, an award will not be given due to a shortage of entries in the segment, but we have a lot to celebrate for with this accomplishment. We do not need an award to tell us how well we performed.
Second, the Bowling Green team secured the Bronze Plant Award.
- Our plant score, which indicates the number of quality issues that were plant controllable, came in at only 43 PPH - tying with the Toyota Georgetown Plant and the Ford Truck Plant. In addition, this top-notch score was only 1 PPH away from the Silver Plant score (Oshawa Car @ 42 PPH) and 2 PPH away from the Gold Plant score (Honda, East Liberty, Ohio @ 41 PPH).
Third, we achieved our plant mission: To competitively produce the highest quality vehicles in our market segment by using our greatest resource, our people working together.
- Our award winning quality performance in the annual JD Power survey demonstrates our focus on quality and the immense amount of pride our team has in building cars. Make no mistake, it has been a difficult go for the Bowling Green team - working through unprecedented times and multiple derates, a Special Attrition Program, layoff and downweeks. But this plant just proved its winning spirit and dedication to customer satisfaction, even when times are tough. Time and time again, I have watched you work together to surface issues and develop and implement solutions. Your hard work and patience have paid off, and the quality of our products leaving the plant is better than ever before.
Now, we MUST CONTINUE OUR FOCUS ON QUALITY. We need to celebrate on the run and keep moving forward in the right direction because we know that is the mindset of our competition. In addition, the scores of the top 25 plants in the U.S. were separated by only 10 points, so as you can see, our competition is intense. I truly believe this team can bring home the Gold Plant Award next year and stay on top as the Best GM Model.
As you leave for this next shutdown, please take a moment to pat yourself on the back and say congratulations to your team members for a job well done.
When we come back to work, let?s continue to work together to show who's best!
Congratulations Bowling Green Team.
Paul Graham,
Plant Manager
