Korea GM Changwon Plant Restructuring 'Avengers' "Major Upgrade... Will Lead Company Normalization"

Production from Compact to Large Cars
Flood of Benchmarking Inquiries from Overseas
CUV Production Starting Next Year... "A New Turning Point for Completing Business Normalization"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] "The Changwon plant is a place where all the capabilities of the Production Technology Research Institute staff come together."

This is how the heads of the Production Technology Research Institute at GM Technical Center Korea (GMTCK) described the upgraded Changwon plant.

On the 30th of last month at Seoul Square, we met Kim Ki-hyuk, Small Car Manager, Seol Dong-moon, Press & Polymer Team Manager, Sung Ki-taek, VSMEGA Execution Team 2 Manager, and Bae Jun, Body Process Technology Team Manager, all belonging to GMTCK. They are the key figures behind the reorganization of the Changwon plant. They expressed their expectation that the crossover utility vehicles (CUVs) to be produced at the extensively revamped Changwon plant will lead Korean GM back to normalcy.

Korean GM made a large-scale facility investment at the Changwon plant starting in 2023 to produce new CUVs. After four months of extensive work beginning in September last year, the press, body, and assembly plants underwent a major transformation. The industry estimates that this investment alone cost around 1 trillion won.

The Changwon plant, which had mainly produced small cars such as the Tico starting in 1991, Matiz, and Spark, has now been upgraded to manufacture large vehicles as well. It can now produce 250,000 vehicles annually. Manager Sung explained, "Before COVID-19, the Spark could be produced at about 32 units per hour. With this facility investment, the Changwon plant now has the capacity to produce 60 CUVs per hour, and it also has the capability to produce 16 units of the Spark concurrently." He added, "It can produce up to six different vehicle classes."

In particular, many new technologies have been applied at the Changwon plant. There have been numerous inquiries from overseas seeking to benchmark these new technologies. Manager Seol said, "Items such as the Vision Inspection System and the Carbon T-Beam application are being benchmarked globally from the Changwon plant," adding, "The vision system automatically checks panel shapes with a 3D camera to verify defects."

They did not hide their pride in the Changwon plant. They emphasized that no safety accidents occurred while meeting the deadline set by General Motors (GM). They also stressed that even during pilot production, the quality exceeds mass production standards. Manager Sung explained, "When reorganizing the Changwon plant, we created actual facilities at about one-quarter scale to conduct preliminary tests. This allowed us to identify potential issues in advance while keeping the construction schedule on track."

Manager Bae evaluated, "In the body plant, we introduced a system that scans the entire area using vision cameras. Compared to the past, measurement time has been reduced to less than 70%, and even though it is still in the early stages of application, the quality has surpassed that of mass-produced products."

They also expressed high expectations for the CUV. It is described as a new turning point that will complete the company's management normalization. The CUV to be produced starting next year will be manufactured exclusively at Korean GM sites and exported to global markets excluding China.

Manager Kim emphasized, "Since the successful launch of the Trailblazer in 2018, we have been preparing the CUV as a new turning point to complete the company's management normalization. The CUV produced at the Changwon plant is not only a next-generation new vehicle but also a meaningful vehicle that embodies the high technical skills, know-how, and efforts of Korean GM employees."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.