Canadian engineering announcement
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- CANADIAN ENGINEERING ANNOUNCEMENT OSHAWA
- STEVE CARLISLE
 
For Release: Friday, June 10, 2016 10:00 a.m. EST CANADIAN ENGINEERING ANNOUNCEMENT OSHAWA – General Motors of Canada, president and managing director, Steve Carlisle and General Motors, executive vice president, global product development, purchasing and supply chain, Mark Reuss addressed government, stakeholders and CTC employees on Friday, June 10, 2016. The prepared text of their remarks are below. As always, the speakers’ words are definitive. ### STEVE CARLISLE On behalf of the entire General Motors Canada team I want to welcome everyone to the newly renamed Canadian Technical Centre. This is a very special day indeed for GM Canada and I believe for our auto sector in Canada. As many of you have heard me say over the past year, the global auto industry is now in a profound period of change that we at GM believe will be very positive for our customers, for road safety, for the environment and for our economy. At GM we believe the future of the automobile will be electric, connected, autonomous and increasingly part of the shared economy. Rapid innovation has profound implications for all of us. Our CEO Mary Barra has set a strong direction for our company which is driving disrupting ouselves. We are transforming GM to be the leader in next generation automotive technology – to own the customer relationship both inside and as well as outside of the car. Now what could all this mean for Canada? Canadians have been innovative pioneers in areas like mobile communications and networks, aerospace, medicine and many other areas not to mention automotive itself. The founder of GM Canada Colonel Sam McLaughlin was himself a great innovator on the world stage as we moved from horses to motorized carriages. And now transportation is transforming again. We here at GM Canada began to explore the daunting question of how we could fit in and contribute. A wise man, Francis of Assisi, once offered some good advice – and that was this “Start by doing what’s necessary. Then do what’s possible: and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” UOIT President Tim McTiernan pointed me back to TS Eliot recently during one of our visits to our GM Automotive Centre of Excellence. TS Eliot once asked “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” So a little more than a year ago, we started spending a great deal of time visiting our great Canadian universities and suppliers from Ontario to Quebec and BC to discuss new automotive technology opportunities and to connect with faculty and students in a new way. We wanted to understand the special skills and capabilities we could draw upon here. Brian Tossan and I were incredibly impressed to learn that in close proximity we had some of the world’s leading authorities in software development and security, mechatronics, artificial and machine intelligence, data analytics and a wide range of very applicable environmental technologies. We introduced a few of those partners to Mark, Ken Kelzer, Gary Bandurski and other top Engineering leaders at GM and we initiated a number of new partnerships. I am gratified to see so many of those university and supplier partners here with us today. Then, just a little more than a year ago, with Mark’s support, we were proud to announce that we would take on a new engineering mandate here in Oshawa to develop “connected car” software and control systems. We set out to hire 100 new software engineers and build our Canadian team – and with thanks to Brian Tossan and his team, we are right on track, with many of those new team members here with us today. Stand up folks! Next we announced the opening of a new innovation hub we call “2908 at Communitech” – and that also placed us in the middle of Kitchener Waterloo’s well known innovation cluster. It’s a move that has already paid tremendous dividends and our Communitech Activator Lindsay Farlow is with is here today – stand up Lindsay. We also spent time at our unique Kapuskasing cold weather testing facility (in February!) and considered some of the unique test roles it can play as automobiles move to new technologies and approaches. And in April we announced our purchase of land in Toronto which will become a new Urban Mobility Campus where we plan for a mix of office space, research & development facilities, GM vehicle sales and service including sales of electric vehicles and a public experience centre featuring innovations in urban mobility. And I want to say a special word of thanks to Ministers Brad Duguid and Navdeep Bains who have been with us all throughout this journey in countless meetings, texts, calls, visits and events. Please stand and wave. We are very lucky to have you in your roles. Now, if you are joining the dots– thinking about electric, connected, autonomous and shared vehicles - you see that a dynamic new auto innovation cluster is emerging here. At GM, we are building the industry’s best cars and trucks – and we plan to continue doing that here in Canada for many decades to come. But, we also see an opportunity for Canada to be part of something even bigger - a new global auto innovation supply chain. Our Canadian software and technology work has the potential to make its way into some ten million vehicles GM designs and produces around the world each year. The person who is leading that product and technology renaissance and the person who supported and encouraged us most in our efforts to get here today is GM’s EVP, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, Mark Reuss. Ladies and gentlemen I am very proud to turn the mic over to my friend and colleague Mark Reuss. MARK REUSS Thanks Steve. And congratulations to you, Brian Tossan and the entire team for your accomplishments here in Oshawa. I am joined today by Ken Kelzer, our VP of Engineering who spent several years here in Canada earlier in his career and has been a great supporter of the engineering capability we have built here in Canada. I’m also pleased to be joined by Gary Bandurski, Executive Director, Electrical Components and Subsystems. A few minutes ago we were able to share a few examples of Canadian Technical Centre innovation with the Premier and Prime Minister, and I know we are all excited to launch some of those new products and technologies in the months ahead. You may have also noticed that we arrived in one of the most advanced electric vehicles on the planet, the upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EV. What you may not know is that some key elements of the Bolt – such as its advanced Blue Tooth driver recognition system or its 180 degree rear view mirror were developed with significant contributions from the team here in Oshawa. As Steve said, this industry is on the cusp of an exciting transformation – and we are indeed going electric, connected, autonomous and shared. Our Tech Centre in Warren, Michigan, is taking on new projects and mandates at a dazzling pace. That means we need a lot of innovative thinking – the kind that comes from a vibrant, diverse and highly educated workforce. It means we need new partners with the kind of breakthrough capabilities we see in Canada’s universities, startups, incubators and small and growing new companies. Here in Canada, we know we have partners in the government that understand how innovation can drive economic growth. You have told us you plan to make Canada the most inviting jurisdiction on the planet for transformative innovation. At GM, that’s music to our ears. And that’s why I’m so pleased to announce today that General Motors will undertake a significant expansion of our engineering and software work in Canada. We will grow our Canadian engineering base to about 1,000 positions over the next few years. The new work based here in Canada will focus on three key areas:
Active Safety and Vehicle Dynamics Technology… Infotainment and Connected Vehicle Technology… and Autonomous Vehicle Software & Controls Development. These are essential elements for the development of connected, autonomous and shared vehicles and mobility systems for the future. The expansion will quickly take us beyond full capacity here in our Tech Centre in Oshawa. So I’m also pleased to announce another important piece of the growing innovation ecosystem Steve outlined: We will soon be opening a new GM software engineering centre in Markham, Ontario. Additionally, GM will be investing in its Kapuskasing facility to further enhance our cold weather testing capabilities. That work is going on as we speak. Premier and Prime Minister, I want to emphasize that we selected Ontario and Canada for this expansion because of the clear capacity for innovation, the proven talent in this room and the ecosystem of great universities, startups and innovative suppliers. We also selected Ontario and Canada because of your clear leadership and commitment to innovation. That's very important to us. So on behalf of GM CEO Mary Barra and all of us at GM, I want to extend our thanks for joining us today and I now am honoured to invite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to share a few thoughts with us now… STEVE CARLISLE Thank you Prime Minister. I would now like to invite the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario to the podium. Directory: dld -> content -> product -> public public -> Cadillac Racing cts-v coupe Media Kit content -> Plant Fact Sheet Revised: 15. 13 Gm lansing Grand River Assembly content -> For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 content -> Creating the Future of Transportation V2x-related Technology Terms and Concepts content -> Innovation on the Line: gm manufacturing Milestones content -> Gm china Pre-iblac press Conference Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 Mary Barra remarks content -> Remarks Ray Bierzynski Executive Director, Electrification Strategy, gm china Good morning, everyone content -> General Motors China Download 49.47 Kb. Share with your friends:
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