The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PROGRESS EDITION, WIIITBY FRIL PRISS, WlIDNSDAY, MANY 6, 1981, PAGE 19 Oshawa nolonger only home as GM expands into town Within Durham Region, General Motors of Canada has always been synonymous with Oshawa, but today this statement is no longer valid. General Motors now boasts three of- fice facilities in Whitby and a fourth move is pending with the relocation of GM's Export Operations to the recently purchased Firestone Building. In early 1978, GM realized that the warehouse facility it was renting in South Whitby, could be renovated to ac- commodate a much needed move. "A shortage of space in the Oshawa offices made it imperative that we expand, but we wanted to keep related departments together," Dave Monteith, general administrator of systems and cost control says. "Also, the move was a total team effort - every em- ployee participating in some way with the planning, selection of furniture, and the physical relocation it- self. This helped in developing a work environ- ment everyone could en- joy." The eventual move to the new office building involved the materials management department which consists of production control, traf- fic, purchasing and systems operations. The purchasing depar- tment is responsible for buying components for all Canadian assembly and fabrication plants, (ex- cluding London's Diesel operations). The depar- tment also oversees the pur- chasing of all capital equip- ment, machinery, operating supplies and computer leasing. The production and material control group is responsible for the scheduling, forecasting and expediting of productive material required to support our assembly operat-ions. The Traffic department con- trols the movement of both inbound and outbound finished vehicles here and abroad. The computerized systems used to control all of the above activities are designed and maintained by the Production Planning Systems Development department. Prior to this move, GM had already sprouted facilities in Whitby. Though the average citizen is unaware, the Whitby Mall's south end houses an array of GM functions, from video and visual communications to employee benefit ad- ministrative activities. This facility became GM's first move into the Wh'tby area. but it certainly was not its last. With the continuied growth of education andi training reqire r"ts 'm Gener" Motors of Canada, facilities to house these functions were leased on Hopkins Street in Whitby. "This facility provides pre-supervisory training and assessment centre evaluation for potential first line supervisors as well as various management training programs and general interest com- munication courses such as effective reading, writing and listening," Bruce Young, administrator of salaried personnel says. Not only do salaried em- ployees benefit from these training programs, but many programs are geared to the needs and desires of the assembly line workers. "We offer university cour- ses in personnel and in- dustrial relations through the University of Toronto, on site to accommodate shift work as well as providing the opportunity for secon- dary school upgrading," Young says. The secondary school upgrading, which is opened to the general public curren- tly has an enrollment total of 155 students. Of this total, 152 of these students are GM employees. "Because these are tuition refunded courses, the only expense to the student is the travelling and book costs. The division refunds the student's tuition on suc- cessful completion of such courses," Young says. Also contained within the Hopkins building is GM's salaried employment. This department handles the hiring of all salaried em- ployees for the Oshawa area as well as recruiting and the placing of General Motors Institute and University of Waterloo co-operative students in areas com- plementing their individual academic programs. At the present, GM is preparing for yet another move to Whitby. With the recent purchase of the vacant Firestone property, General Motors of Canada will move its export operations to this new facility in August 1981. The need to relocate the export operations has been apparent for years. "Being multi-levelled, the West plant on Mary and Bond streets in downtown Oshawa, doesn't lend itself to shipping operation. It is wrong to keep wasting money to update the building," Fred Popham, manager of export operations says. "The Firestone building is a single level dwelling, which is more suited for the modern shipping requirements by flight and water." With this rapid expansion of GM into Whitby, it is clear a healthy economic forecast is in the offing for the town's GM's export division at work future. QUALITY EMPHASIS The Key To Customer Satisfaction Emphasis on quality is of prime importance whether a person is building a car, a truck, a component, or is packaging and shipping materials. At General Motors of Canada, our quest for excellen- ce is a serious business and we work at it all the time. It is an extra value you get with every General product. Quality never goes out of style. When your General Motors Motors car or truck or either GM product serves you dependably and efficiently every day, you realize that you can take General Motors' quality for granted. Your satisfaction is the final test we must always pass. You can take General because we don't. General Motors' quality for granted Motors of Canada continues to expand and to upgrade its facilities in Whitby, Oshawa and other centres in Canada. An example is the purchase of a plant in Whitby to house the growing Export Operations of the Company. General Motors and its people look forward to the future with confidence. Canad GENERAL MOTORS OF CANADA LIMITED