General Motors Awards Engineers For Technical Innovation

WEBWIRE – Wednesday, June 13, 2007

DETROIT – Today, GM announced the winners of the annual “Boss” Kettering awards, one of GM’s most prestigious engineering achievements. The 68 award winners from 13 teams will be recognized at a ceremony at the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, MI.

The “Boss” Kettering awards are GM’s highest internal recognition for technical innovation. The award is named for GM’s Charles F. “Boss” Kettering, the first head of GM’s Research and Development Laboratories and the originator of more than 140 patents. General Motors created the “Boss” Kettering award in 1976, on Charles F. Kettering’s 100 th birthday to recognize GM researchers, scientists and engineers for bold new ideas and contributions. The awards honor individuals from every region of the globe whose outstanding inventions and innovations have demonstrated technological leadership and identifiable benefit to General Motors during the previous year.

“Boss Kettering award winners have a unique and important role in our company’s success,” said Jim Queen, GM Group Vice President, Global Engineering. “As stretch thinkers and drivers of innovation, they serve as role models for everyone at GM, displaying the spirit, the determination and the commitment needed to lead the way in the 21st century.”

This year’s award winners showcase GM’s focus on the use of technology to enhance the customer’s overall vehicle experience, increase vehicle safety, reduce product to market lead time, and increase manufacturing efficiency. The awards represent the efforts of GM employees around the world, illustrating the global reach of GM innovation. The 2006 “Boss” Kettering awards clearly represent GM’s commitment to changing the way the world drives.

2006 “Boss” Kettering Award Winners

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Emulation For Virtual Validation Of Controller Logic

Team Photo

Dr. Barajas (center) receiving a “Boss” Kettering Award from Larry Burns (left), GM Vice President Global R&D, and from Thomas Stephens (right), GM Group Vice President Global Powertrain & Quality.

The Emulation for Virtual Validation of Controller Logic offers engineers the ability to validate controls logic in a virtual environment, minimizing the cost and time required to bring products to market. Additionally, Virtual Validation of Controller Logic technology removes the validation process from the product launch critical path, supporting key launch timing strategy.

The Emulation for Virtual Validation of Controller Logic team award winners are: Leandro Barajas, Stephan Biller, Fangming Gu, and Chengyin Yuan from GM Research and Development; and Dan Aufderheide, Jeff Byrnes, Gabriel DeMarco, Mark Emeott, Gerald Gurian and Demet Wood from Controls, Conveyors, Robotics & Welding Manufacturing Engineering.

Maintenance Toolbox Development For Gm Powertrain Plants

Team Photo

Dr. Barajas (center) receiving a “Boss” Kettering Award from Larry Burns (left), GM Vice President Global R&D, and from Gary Cowger(right),  GM Group Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations.

The Maintenance Toolbox is a real-time plant floor decision support tool which provides prioritized maintenance alerts, preventive maintenance opportunity window notification, throughput analysis, prioritized lists of failing machine components based on a total cost approach, and uses predictive maintenance techniques to optimize preventive maintenance intervals. The system enables the identification of machine components that have the largest cost impact considering frequency of failure, downtime and component cost, facilitating maximum manufacturing throughput.

The Maintenance Toolbox Development for GM Powertrain Plants award winners are: Venkat Ram Dwibhashyam from GM Powertrain Manufacturing Engineering; Basel Shadid from the GM Powertrain St. Catharine’s Engine Plant; Leandro Barajas, Stephan Biller, Qing Chang, and Guoxian Xiao from GMNA Research & Development; and Pulak Bandyopadhyay from GM Research & Development – India.

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