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Opel AG: The New Ruesselsheim Plant 2002 (2)
New manufacturing technologies and innovative production methods, which will set new standards with regard to quality, productivity, safety at work and environmental care, are designed to make the Rüsselsheim plant an industry leader. Plant director Michael J. Wolf: "Our team is being offered the unusual opportunity of playing a significant part in shaping its own future and that of the next generation."
Continued modernization of plants and manufacturing methods was not enough to achieve the necessary leap forward at Rüsselsheim, a manufacturing site first developed in the late nineteenth century. In the past 20 years, General Motors has become an industry leader with innovative manufacturing technologies and completely new methods of lean production which focus much more on the role of the individual employee. Opel has played a major role in this process.
The Eisenach plant, opened in 1992, is a shining example of how the efficient Opel production system can be implemented right from the beginning. Usually when a new manufacturing location is built on a "green field" site, staff is recruited from the labor market and trained before production begins. The initial situation in Rüsselsheim is different, however: Here, the new manufacturing facility with the consistently further developed Opel production system is being set up on the existing premises - parallel to ongoing automobile production. This special situation at the Rüsselsheim location with employees who have been working in automobile production for many years made it necessary to take a completely new approach to training. One of the objectives of the training was to familiarize staff with the lean working structures and to prepare them consistently for the modified environment. One feature of lean production is the stronger involvement and greater responsibility of staff than is usually the case with traditional manufacturing concepts. For this reason, the training methods must be arranged in such a way that in practice an efficient and employee-oriented involvement in the new working environment is created.
The preparation of staff for the further-developed Opel production system is an integral part of the project. For those responsible this includes the development of the training strategy, working out contents, methods and organizational aspects as well as creating conditions in which theoretical learnings can be put into practice directly. The expertise and the high degree of commitment of the employees was a major factor in making the process a success. It was clear from the beginning that all employees would take part in the training scheme. This guarantees that a standardized level of training exists in the manufacturing divisions.
With the Opel production system and its principles of "continual improvement", "standardisation", "staff involvement", "quality right from the word go" and "short processing times", staff were not learning purely new skills. They were already familiar with many of the principles and elements which - as far as existing structures allowed - had already been implemented at the Rüsselsheim site. What was new to everyone was the all-encompassing approach to the process as applied at the new plant.
An internal trainer team made up of employees with long years of experience in production is responsible for carrying out the training. The advantage is that they speak the "same language" as the participants of the training sessions. The trainers were selected according to a specific requirement profile and specially prepared for their new role. This preparation included experience of the production system in Opel's Eisenach plant. In addition they are actively involved in the preparation of the training modules. The training process began in 1999 with a two-month phase of orientation during which plant management informed the whole staff about investment, the production system and training and about the importance of the project for the Rüsselsheim location. Between March and October 2000 a total of 7400 members of staff completed the first part of the training scheme.
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