Renaissance man: Gary Cowger has dedicated his career to restoring General Motors to its former glory - Automotive Industries’ 2004 Executive Of The Year: Gary L. Cowger President General Motors North America - Cover Story
“I thought it was important to learn the language,” says Cowger. “I was trying to do the same thing at Opel, except German was a lot harder to learn than Spanish.”
He took on the job of VP of European manufacturing for GM in January of 1998 and became group VP of labor relations in November of that year. In January of 2001, he was named group VP in charge of manufacturing and labor relations and took on his current responsibilities as president of GM North America in November of that year.
Layouts and processes are designed around providing support for the operators and teams on the plant floor. GMS cuts out waste, with the end result being a better quality product built in much less time.