Tous Actualités
Suivre
Abonner General Motors (GM Europe)

General Motors (GM Europe)

Guy Briggs to Retire, Tim Lee to Head GMNA Manufacturing

Rüsselsheim, Germany (ots)

  • Eric Stevens Named GM Europe Vice President of Manufacturing, Replaces Lee
  • Kent Sears to Retire as GM Powertrain VP, General Manager of Manufacturing Ops
  • John Buttermore to Succeed Sears; Diane Tremblay to Head GMNA Labor Relations
Veteran GM executive Guy Briggs, GM group vice president of North
America Manufacturing and Labor Relations, will retire April 1, 2006,
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced today.
Tim Lee, GM Europe vice president of manufacturing, will become GM
North America vice president of manufacturing effective Jan. 1, to
ensure a smooth transition pending Briggs' retirement.  He will
report to Gary Cowger, group vice president of global manufacturing
and labor relations, and Wagoner as head of GMNA.
Wagoner also announced the following related executive changes;
all the appointments are effective Jan. 1:
Kent Sears, GM Powertrain vice president and general manager of
manufacturing operations, will retire April 1 after 39 years of
service to GM.
Eric Stevens, 49, executive director of manufacturing for GM
Europe, will replace Lee as GME vice president of manufacturing. He
will report to Cowger and GME President Carl-Peter Forster.
John Buttermore, 54, GM North America vice president of labor
relations, will succeed Sears as GM Powertrain vice president and
general manager of manufacturing operations.  He will report to Tom
Stephens, GM group vice president of GM Powertrain.  Buttermore was
appointed to his current position in September 2002 and oversaw the
2003 national contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, and
the recent landmark health-care agreement with the UAW.
Diana Tremblay, executive director of labor relations, will
succeed Buttermore as GMNA vice president of labor relations.
Tremblay, 46, was a key executive in the recent negotiations that
resulted in the UAW health-care agreement.
Wagoner praised Briggs and Sears for their many contributions to
GM during their long careers.
"Guy and Kent deserve our thanks and gratitude for many years of
dedicated and excellent service," Wagoner said.
"Guy has played a significant role in the last decade in helping
to transform GM North America's assembly plants into the world-class
manufacturing operation they comprise today.  His enthusiasm and
commitment will be sorely missed."
Briggs, 67, began his GM career in 1961 as a college graduate in
training at the Flint (Mich.) Manufacturing Plant and eventually
became the plant's superintendent of manufacturing.  After holding
several management posts at GM parts, casting, engine and stamping
plants in Michigan and Ohio, he was named a regional manufacturing
manager in 1983 and in 1984 became manufacturing manager for the
former Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM of Canada Group.
He was appointed vice president in charge of manufacturing
operations for Saturn Corp. in 1985, and in 1991 was elected a GM
vice president and appointed group director of operations for the
former GM Truck Group.  From 1996 to 2001, Briggs was GM vice
president and general manager of the GM Truck Group.  From 2001 to
2003, as general manager of vehicle manufacturing, he had operational
responsibility for all of GM North America's assembly plants.
Before his current assignment, Briggs was vice president of
manufacturing.  In his current post, he has responsibility for North
American vehicle manufacturing, vehicle operations, GM Metal
Fabricating Division, and labor relations.  He is a member of the GM
North America Strategy Board.
Sears, 59, began his GM career in 1967 at the former Frigidaire
Division in Dayton, Ohio.  He joined the Chevrolet Division in 1979
in Flint, Mich., where he held several manufacturing positions before
becoming manager of the Flint Engine Plant in 1987.
In 1991, Sears became manager of the Doraville Assembly Plant in
Atlanta, and in 1993 he was appointed director of manufacturing for
transmissions and components at GM Powertrain.  In 1996, he was
appointed manufacturing manager of the former GM Truck Group in
Pontiac, Mich.
Sears became executive in charge of quality and reliability in
1999, and in 2001 he was named GM North America vice president of
quality. He was appointed GMNA vice president of manufacturing
processes and global manufacturing system implementation in 2003.
"Kent has had a distinguished career managing GM assembly, GM
Powertrain and components plants and, more recently, overseeing GM's
quality initiatives and the implementation of GM's global
manufacturing system," Wagoner said.  "We also will miss his many
contributions, experience and counsel."
Lee, 53, has been vice president of manufacturing at GME since
2002, responsible for the overall coordination of Opel, Vauxhall and
Saab manufacturing and assembly plants in Europe.  He joined GM in
1969 and has an extensive background in manufacturing and labor
relations, including senior positions with GM North America.
Stevens, 49, has been executive director of manufacturing for GME
since 2004 and previously was executive director for manufacturing
engineering from 2002 to 2004.  He previously was manager of GM
Canada's Oshawa assembly plant and Opel's Eisenach assembly plant in
Germany, as well as executive director of lean manufacturing at GME.
He began his GM career at GM of Canada in 1978.
Before taking his current post, Buttermore was manufacturing
manager for 10 of GMNA's assembly plants since 2000.  He began his GM
career in 1978 at the former Rochester Products Division in
Rochester, N.Y., after serving in the U.S. Navy.  He held several
manufacturing and product engineering positions at Allison
Transmission and GM Powertrain, and in 1996 was named manufacturing
manager for GM's engine plants in the United States.
Tremblay, 46, was manager of the Opel Belgium assembly plant
before appointment to her current position in 2004.  She has held a
variety of manufacturing and labor relations posts in Europe and the
United States.  She joined GM as a co-op student at the former
General Motors Institute in 1977.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker,
has been the global industry sales leader since 1931. Founded in
1908, GM today employs about 325,000 people around the world.  It has
manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in
200 countries.

Contact:

Edd Snyder
GM Corporate Communications
+1-313-665-4266 (office)
+1-313-549-1276 (mobile)
edd.snyder@gm.com

Stefan Weinmann
GM Manufacturing Communications
+1-313-665-1615 (office)
+1-313-407-6306 (mobile)
stefan.weinmann@gm.com