GM enlarges design center
Gazeta Mercantil - 03/12/2008
General Motors winds up next September the investment program of US$ 36 million to enlarge the center of design in LAAM, region that covers Latin America, Africa and Middle East, in which Brazil is also included. The company informed that the increase of the capacity of this department is intended to handle the new responsibilities inside the corporation. That is, to develop, the segments of: engineering and manufacturing of São Caetano do Sul, in the São Paulo ABC Region, and global vehicles. Since 2006, the technological center of GM do Brasil - in which is inserted the design center - has the mission of developing the global architecture of the new generations of mid-sized pickup-trucks to be produced by the plants of the company all over the world. Besides increasing the physical structure, acquiring modern equipment, the company will also hire new professionals. "The design center of GM in Brazil will have its size tripled, going from the current 3,000 square meters to 9,150 square meters of built-up area", informs Carlos Barba, design director of GM for the LAAM division. Besides the area, the number of professionals will also be increased, from 79 to 190 employees in the areas of creation (designers), support (digital modelers), persons in charge of the prototypes' construction (sculptors) and administration. The four machining machines, equipment used in the construction of physical surfaces generated from a graphical image, will be replaced by 16 state-of-the-art machines (the same equipment that is used in GM in the United States). The '' 3D'' room (virtual reality) will become the most modern one in Latin America. "At a technological level, our pieces of equipment match those existing in the United States, in the countries of Europe and anywhere in the world", says Carlos Barba. According to Carlos Barba, in its new role in the corporation, the Brazilian subsidiary gained new responsibilities. "In the past, the Brazilian design center only made the face-lifting of models produced in the Europe and in the United States. But in recent years, the Brazilian GM has become so prominent that it became one of the four global centers of development of products in the world that work in an entirely integrated way", he recalls. GM do Brasil's design also stood out in the development of concept cars. One was the Sabiá (Portuguese name of a Brazilian bird) - which was even exhibited in the Detroit International Auto Show (U.S.A.).