General Motors will end California automaking
GM opts out of NUMMI venture with Toyota
Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 6/30/2009 9:32:10 AM
General Motors will end its 25-year manufacturing joint venture with Toyota Motor in Fremont, Calif. The New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant currently, assembles the Corolla compact sedan and the Tacoma pickup for Toyota and the Pontiac Vibe hatchback for GM.
GM will stop making the Vibe by the end of August as part of its plan to eliminate the Pontiac brand. GM is selling or ending four of its eight brands and eliminating many models under a plan to downsize and restructure in bankruptcy court. GM's ownership interest in NUMMI will become part of "old GM" to be sold off as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
GM and Toyota co-founded NUMMI in 1984 when the U.S. auto industry was under assault from high-quality, low-cost imports from Japan. For GM, the joint venture was an opportunity to see first-hand The San Francisco Examiner says NUMMI became a laboratory for Japanese manufacturing innovations like worker participation in quality control and just-in-time inventory deliveries to reduce costs. In a 1998 report on the operation, Purchasing pointed out that several of the 220 suppliers to NUMMI had adopted the then-new JIT manufacturing techniques.
NUMMI presently is running well under capacity, cranking out
barely half as many vehicles through the first six months of this year than a
year earlier. In a statement, Toyota
said it will "consider alternatives" for the factory, but didn't elaborate.
However, the Los Angeles Times says GM's decision puts the plant's future into
jeopardy. Toyota makes both the Corolla and Tacoma in other plants in North America and has several
fully owned plants running below capacity -- including a new plant in Mississippi that currently
is vacant.
See also: Shorter
is better for Toyota's supply chain
Toyota to boost engine production in Alabama
09/01/2009Toyota tackles the millennium bug
02/10/1999GM names new purchasing chief
06/16/2009
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