Delivery will begin in late 1997 and could be extended to include an additional 400 armored vehicles. Our product lifecycle used to take 24 months from design to first vehicle. Our target is to reduce that to 12 months. Davis, whose seven years in the project management field began at Ontario Hydro, is responsible for the implementation of project management systems and training for defense projects at the plant. The Diesel Division s Defense Operations has been producing armored vehicles since 1977.
Vehicles are currently in service in Saudi Arabia, Australia, the U.S. and Canada.
According to Davis, Gm is up to the challenge. We chose this combination of tools because of their open architecture and their high degree of integration, says Davis. The ability to have our timesheet labor actuals directly feeding our cost system is a big plus. Ms. Davis is responsible not just for the software but also for implementing changes in the corporate culture to make that software productive. Our biggest challenge is making sure the methodologies are in place not just the tools, she says.