With all the bad news about layoffs, outsourcing, and plant closings at General Motors (GM), it’s not hard to guess what keeps many GM employees up at night. However, with the company’s renewed mission to reinvent the automobile, and with a new $25 billion bailout from the federal government for automakers who invest in green technology, at least one group at GM is sleeping a little easier.

E-Flex Systems, the hybrid-vehicle task force behind the 2010 Chevy Volt, recently received the green light from senior management to design cleaner more energy-efficient vehicles. And now with a $25 billion credit line from the feds, GM’s group of more than 600 engineers and designers is hard at work developing high-quality low-emissions vehicles for the future.

In videotaped comments posted on the company’s FastLane blog, Bob Lutz, GM’s vice chairman of global product development, explained the automaker’s perspective on quality. “If you ask me, ‘Are we satisfied where we are in quality?’ the answer has to be ‘No.’ Because until you’re absolutely perfect, which no company will ever be, this is really an area where you strive.” 

Although quality may be a never-ending pursuit, getting it right may be more important than ever before in GM’s history. In recent years, the company has overhauled design processes to make way for alternative-fuel vehicles like the Chevy Tahoe hybrid, the hydrogen-powered Equinox SUV, and the battery powered Volt. Such uncharted waters could prove treacherous if controls are not in place to measure performance and provide swift corrective action when problems arise.

In the case of the Chevy Volt, E-Flex teams are keeping a close eye on the car’s plug-in electric drive unit— especially the mission-critical lithium-ion batteries that deliver Volt’s 40 miles of gas-free driving. As anyone with a laptop computer knows, battery technology is improving slowly. Drawbacks of batteries include limited storage capacity, cost of production, performance deterioration, and life cycle—and they’re heavy, too. “It’s the biggest challenge we have with this car,” says Andrew Farah, chief engineer of the E-Flex Systems group. To ensure quality in Volt’s state-of-the-art battery technology, engineers are testing batteries from Massachusetts-based supplier A123 Systems as well as packs from Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Chem.

While not on par with the V-8 engines GM pioneered in the past, Volt’s electric drive train produces plenty of pep. The unit delivers 150 horsepower, 273 pound-feet of torque, speeds of 100 miles per hour, and 0-to-60 in nine seconds. “That doesn’t sound like a golf cart to me,” quipped Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Volt. “It’ll be fun to drive.”

But Volt’s game-changing fuel efficiency also comes from its unique design. The Volt seats only four people, allowing integration of a six-foot T-shaped battery that sits economically under the center spine and rear seats. As Global Design Vice President Ed Welburn notes, “The battery is so integrated into the design that it’s like, ‘where is it?’” Precisely the point, according to chief engineer Farah. “The whole idea is to integrate it. You don’t want to have a battery with some wheels.”

GM product-development teams have more ordinary concerns as well. Although the Volt’s electric motor is pivotal, Lutz notes that consumers are more likely to notice things like precise body fits and the radiance of the paint job. “These are things that people associate with quality,” says the vice chairman. “They like to have an object that looks like it was put together with great care and by somebody that had a lot of respect for the ultimate customer.” As Lutz sees it, the customer is always at the center of GM’s commitment to quality. “We shoot not only for absence of problems, but we especially shoot for a joyous owner experience.”

Questions

1. How might GM use organizational control to ensure that the Chevy Volt meets the expectations set for it during the vehicle’s early planning stages?

2. Which total quality management (TQM) techniques may not be applicable to GM as it pioneers next-generation alternative-fuel vehicles?

3. Would the partnership approach to supply chain management improve GM’s procurement of materials for new energy-efficient vehicles? Why or why not?