Mariano

Chevrolet’s John Fitzpatrick Details the Production Process for the 2014 Corvette Stingray
by Keith Cornett on August 7, 2013

Since the ordering process for the 2014 Corvette Stingray began in late May, we have noticed a huge increase in the amount of chatter on the forums about status codes and TPWs. TPW stands for “Target Production Week” and during normal production, they will usually give the buyer a fairly accurate forecast for when their Corvette will be built. But because the Corvette Stingray hasn’t officially started retail sales production, the TPWs that customers are getting through the Chevrolet customer service system may not be accurate and that appears to be causing concern – both for the customer and the Corvette production team.

We reached out to Corvette Marketing Manager John Fitzpatrick to get more information about the production schedule and the processes that will happen before the plant starts shipping the new C7 Corvette Stingrays to dealers.

When the 2014 Corvette Stingray was revealed in January, the plan for production has always been for customer cars to begin arriving at dealers sometime around late summer or early fall and Fitzpatrick tells us they are still very much on track to start delivering cars in that time frame. Fitzpatrick says that even though TPWs are available to buyers through the Customer Ordering System on Chevrolet.com, its “academic” at this point because they have yet to start building the retail cars.

Fitzpatrick went on to explain that everything they are doing right now is much like a sports franchise going through preseason. Early this year, they began building their non-saleable validation cars. In second quarter, they moved to “saleable” builds which is what we see Harlan, Tadge and other members of the Corvette team driving. They are still practice builds, but are much closer to the final version.

So when will the retail customer cars start production? Fitzpatrick explains there is no set date. It all depends on when they think they are ready: “They will get to that day where they say, OK, everything is coming together, everything makes sense, everything looks great so we’re going to start regular retail production. And at that point, and only after that point, customers will start seeing VINs to their car. And so we’re still in the practice session. We don’t know the date that will happen or the time, but it’s going to happen sometime soon.”

He reiterated that the TPW is only a “target” and just because a customer may see a TPW change from 8/5 to 8/12, it doesn’t mean there are issues with the production process or delays in production.

Customers may also see event codes changed. “Some might see their code go from 3000 to 3300 and then back to 3000 and think that something has happened with their order, but in reality, nothing has changed” he said and then adds “it’s part of the natural progress of the system and we move event codes to give our suppliers signals on when we think materials need to flow to us. And so we keep adjusting those event codes. It doesn’t mean anything has happened at that point, it just means we’re getting things ready for the regular start of production.”

Another question among new Corvette buyers has to do with the queuing and sequencing of the cars. John tells us that “the manufacturing process is based on maximizing the supply flow from suppliers and the internal production within the plant like the paint shop. Much of it depends on the dealer and how they flow orders and what suppliers have supplies for us. For example, we’re seeing right now a constraint with the Carbon Fiber Dash Panel. The reason for the constraint is because there is way more demand right now than we are able to supply. That effects how dealers put cars into the production sequence.”

Fitzpatrick says once production starts, and a customer gets his VIN and then the car is built, that still doesn’t mean its going to ship out the next day. “That’s not a bad thing. We hold the cars to make sure they meet our quality standards. We release the car once we think it’s near as perfect as we can get it. We’re making sure everything is right about that car and that’s why it goes though the quality assessment process.”

John reiterated that because the quality assessments are so important to the automaker, it’s one of the reasons why Chevrolet won five J.D. Power Initial Quality Awards earlier this year. “We take this so seriously because we want to make sure the customer doesn’t have to come back to the dealership for something. Are we going to be perfect in that regard? Probably not, but we’re trying to be.”

John says they will officially announce when cars begin shipping to dealers, but there probably won’t be an announcement regarding the start of retail production. “The key question is when will we start shipping cars out of Bowling Green? Everything else up to that point doesn’t matter.”

Fitzpatrick summed up the conversation saying “Everybody is so excited about this car. And when I say everybody, I mean not just the customers. I mean everybody in GM, everybody at Bowling Green, every supplier. Everybody loves this car. They think it’s the shot in the arm that Corvette needed. The anticipation, not only for the people who have ordered the car, but from the dealers and the leadership here at GM, it’s just sky high. But we also know we got to do everything we can to give them the highest quality product out there.”

Now, everybody please relax and calm down. Our C7s are coming "soon" and they will be built to the highest quality standards possible.
Alfie (Mariano)

Zymurgy

Nice find, but I don't think it will change much around here.

speedlink

Thank you for the link. John kind of said what I've been thinking and saying for a while. They will make the car as close to perfect as possible. The event codes shouldn't be panicked over, and we will be getting the car soon!
Very good write up.

speedlink

Unfortunately.

Speednet

Interesting about the constantly-changing production codes. Done in order to signal suppliers to send particular materials. So the suppliers are directly integrated into the Chevy system - nice.

Mariano

Absolutely! An essential element in today's "just in time" supply chain process.

A friend of mine owns a plastic injection company here in Michigan. They make the instrument cluster housing for the Caddy CTS. Want to know how many CTSs will be built next month? Ask him, he would be able to tell you the exact number of units and the color of their interiors.

Alfie

harley2

I for one appreciate the update!

lawdogg149

thanks for the update. That's the way it should be at least every two weeks.

Sierramadre

Great post. A definitive source and a clear answer. Thx.

jsc7vette

Come on, don't confuse the issue with real facts

VETJAZZ

Great post. Thks

Mike O'Daniel

That's pretty much SOP in any manufacturing environment today. SAP and other supply management software is critical in staying competitive.

Stingray Sam

Thanks for a well done post.

Mariano

GMer sums it up in three sentences in a post on his Order Update Thread:

"I was told today we are not even going to have a press release about the start of production. We will have a release when the cars start shipping. Just because something gets built, doesn't mean you're going to get it the next day".

GM'er

Hmm, seems to be the same thing John said in the next to last paragraph of the article. Wonder where my info came from?

Paul Huizenga

What link? He straight-up lifted the content from CorvetteBlogger.com, so Keith does all the research and gets exactly zero page views. That sucks.

Mariano

Of course, it was a "cut and paste" post. With Keith clearly identified as the author, and with 3 links in the first sentence of the first paragraph, it should be obvious that I never intended the post to be anything other than me passing on information from the original author.

I fail to see the "suck" factor here! But here we go again; finding a "suck" where there is none...that seems to be typical around here! Perhaps its the anxiety build up as we wait for our cars to be built.

Mariano

talon90

Just to maybe clarify a little, websites like Corvetteblogger are paid for by advertising. Advertising rates on such sites are driven by traffic...clicks as it were.

What the poster was indicating was that the copy of the information to this forum resulted in a single click where had a link been posted to the site that originated the information based on the current traffic to this thread it would have resulted in 639 "clicks". That's all. So there was the "suck" that he was speaking about. A direct post in lieu of a link cut out the additional traffic from the site that brought the story. It isn't necessarily about the intellectual property or copyright or "credit" as much as it is the traffic.

Mariano

Thanks for the clarification. I figured that was the point he was trying to make. It's just the use word "suck" is very ambiguous in its intent. It can be taken as a derogatory criticism with an offensive tone to just a simple negative meaning. Perhaps, I'm the one who is overly anxious and sensitive from waiting for this car :>).

Looking back, I could've (should've) used a single link to Keiths article...I stand corrected.



Mariano (Alfie)

Keith@VetteFinders

Hey guys. I appreciate the comments and glad that this article helps to clarify the process.

Not everything has to have a link and in this case, we'd rather help our fellow Corvette owners with the information presented instead of monetizing their visits. But if you want to help out, just click here:

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2013/...ette-stingray/

Also on the call with Fitzpatrick was Monte Doran, Chevrolet Communications. Monte equated the production process of the Corvettes with the Iphone. According to Monte, iphone buyers are rabid fans and they don't care when the phone production starts, they only want to know when to go stand in line to pick it up.

We both agreed that the process is a bit different because we get to order a custom product vs a mass market item, but I understand where they are coming from.

What I wasn't able to convey in the story is just how excited they are about the new Corvette Stingray. This car is a major game changer for the folks inside GM and they are just as anxious to start production as we are.

Keith Cornett
http://www.CorvetteBlogger.com