In the first two weeks of December, 520 General Motors South Africa (GMSA) assembly workers trained at the Eastcape Training Centre in Port Elizabeth, focusing on the company’s Global Manufacturing System (GMS).

The training, which is facilitated by GMSA in conjunction with the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education Training Authority (MERSETA) and the National Union of Metal Workers (NUMSA), covers key aspects of the GMS, which is the production system used by GM plants globally. Some of the topics covered in the training include: health & safety, built-in quality, housekeeping, preventative maintenance, workplace organisation and environment issues.

“We took advantage of the early shutdown, with assistance from MERSETA and with full involvement of NUMSA, to train employees on key elements of GMS, which is a critical component of the build-up to the launch of the sixth generation of the Isuzu KB. It is not often that we have the opportunity to spend 10consecutive days on training with production employees and already we are seeing the benefit of pursuing this project” says Wayne Osborne, GMSA training and organisational development manager.

“Skills development is a key requirement in ensuring that we have a successful launch of the new Isuzu KB. We have already built a number of pre-production units, which are in essence practise units to allow us to perfect the assembly process before we build the first unit to be shipped to customers early in 2013,” stated Michael Pearton, GMSA vice president: manufacturing.

The plant will begin production of the new Isuzu KB when it starts up in the second week of January 2013.