May 9,2008  From Auto News

May 9--With a new engineering director for China, General Motors is trying to speed up parts sourcing in China and improve the automaker’s engineering capabilities in the world’s second-largest national market. 
     
 "We have dedicated GM engineers who can work with our purchasing and supplier quality engineering folks," says Ray Bierzynski, executive director for China engineering at GM Asia Pacific. 
     
Engineers will come from the United States to work with engineers in China, and he will hire more engineers here, he says. 
     
To help speed up identification of qualified suppliers in China, engineers will visit suppliers along with the purchasing team. 
     
Engineering and purchasing will be jointly responsible for cost reductions, says Bierzynski. 
     
One area where Bierzynski sees great sourcing potential in China is components that go into hybrid and fully electric vehicles, such as batteries and electric motors. Hybrids use an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors to power the wheels. 
     
"Anything related to electrification of the vehicle, I can help out with the supply base," says Bierzynski. 
     
Bierzynski was previously president of the Pan Asia Automotive Technical Center Co., a joint venture of GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. 
     
PATAC was built to be a design and engineering center for new models in China. But its engineers also had to help out with global sourcing efforts. In his new job, Bierzynski aims to allow PATAC to fulfill its origi nal mission. 
     
"We want to keep PATAC focused on execution of product for China and let me do work for GM globally," says Bierzynski. 
     
PATAC does more than design cars. It can also verify the hardware and software in electrical systems for concept vehicles. In its powertrain lab, PATAC can develop and validate engines, and test and validate automatic transmissions. 
     
In his new job, Bierzynski will also play a role in GM’s efforts to develop a very low-cost car for emerging markets. 
     
One of his key tasks is to improve engineering capabilities at a GM joint venture, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automotive Co. Bierzynski says he aims to give the joint venture technical abilities similar to PATAC’s. 
     
SAIC-GM-Wuling produces small vans, mainly used commercially in China, and the Chevrolet Spark small car. Engineers at SAIC-GM-Wuling are already working on ways to cut costs in the next-generation Spark by up to half. 
     
Those cost reductions will help GM as it designs its low cost model.

Editor: Haijing Qu