GM Aims to Cut Next Silverado and Sierra Development to Two Years
GM wants to develop the next Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in two years instead of four to five, using virtual design and testing tools.
General Motors is trying to shrink the time it takes to develop a new vehicle from four to five years down to two, and its next full-size pickups are the first test. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra redesigns are already being built with virtual tools that turn concepts into manufacturing data, according to a report from Autoblog published Nov. 6.
For truck buyers, a shorter cycle would mean updated pickups reach dealer lots sooner and new features arrive faster. GM has not said when the redesigned Silverado and Sierra will go on sale.
How GM plans to compress truck development
The traditional process spends months turning rough sketches into finished designs before engineers can build tooling. GM’s software skips much of that step. Mark Dickens, GM’s executive chief engineer of full-size trucks, said the tools let the team move directly into production tooling for many parts.
The time saved goes to the harder work of making complex subsystems fit and function together. Glenn Babiak, chief engineer for GM’s heavy-duty pickups, said settling production tooling early removes a lot of physical trial and error. Engineers can then spend their effort on calibration and on the details that matter once trucks are in customers’ hands.
Virtual testing before physical prototypes
GM Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson described the scale of the shift in an interview with Automotive News. He said new software platforms let GM test more than 300,000 designs for a lithium battery before it built a physical prototype. On one program, the company went from first concept to program approval in a single month.
A prototype is a hand-built early version of a vehicle or part used for testing. Building fewer of them, and building them later, is one of the main ways automakers can save time and money in development.
Why it matters for GM and truck shoppers
The Silverado and Sierra are GM’s most profitable vehicles and a main source of its North American earnings. Silverado sales recently rose 13 percent even with high fuel prices and redesigns on the way, according to Autoblog.
GM is moving faster under pressure from Chinese automakers that bring new models to market quickly, and from buyers whose tastes are changing fast. Pickups now carry more technology than ever, and a shorter development cycle would let GM update that technology more often instead of waiting for a full redesign every several years.
The shift also raises questions about engineering jobs, since software is taking over work that people once did by hand. Autoblog reported that GM describes the tools as a way to clear routine groundwork so its engineers can concentrate on integration and fine-tuning. GM has not announced any staffing changes tied to the new process.
What to watch
The redesigned Silverado and Sierra will be the first real measure of whether GM can hit a two-year cycle. GM has not released a launch date, pricing or details of the new trucks. Owners of current Silverado and Sierra pickups are not affected by the change in how future models are developed.
Source: YAHOO!
