News From the Auto Industry

“I’ve done a lot of model changeovers,” says LGR Plant Manager Ken Knight. “And I’ve never seen one go as slick as this.”

C-Flex replaces body-style specific tooling, allowing multiple body panels to be welded with the same set of programmable tools and robots. “The benefits of C-Flex are that plants can build a higher variety of differentiated products at much lower costs,” says Gary Cowger, president-GM North America.

In addition to space and money savings, C-Flex decreases changeover time and allows GM to increase production of hot-selling models faster. It also means GM isn’t stuck with a large tooling investment for a product that isn’t selling well.

It costs about $100 million to implement C-Flex into an assembly plant. Another $30 million to $50 million is needed when a new product is introduced to the plant to cover the cost of new software, additional C-Flex units and some dedicated subassembly operations.

“We intend to roll this system out on every new platform,” says Eric Stevens, GM executive director-manufacturing engineering.

Within the limitations of the paint shop, GM says C-Flex can handle four or five different platforms per plant.

Flawless launches are imperative for Lordstown and Orion, which are participating in important programs for GM: the Delta small car architecture and Epsilon midsize platform, respectively.

C-Flex reduces the size of body shops between 50,000 sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m) and 150,000 sq.-ft. (13,935 sq.-m) by eliminating the number of welding cells needed.

GM has been using the programmable body shop tooling, called C-Flex, at its plants in Moraine, OH, and Oklahoma City.