[Keith Seymore]

This week represents the end of an era for me -

For the last 14 years I have been in GM engineering project management assigned to various product programs. We take a vehicle model all the way from the clay in the studio, through the design and development process, help launch it in the assembly plant and stay with it until the build is stable. Anything related to "engineering" fell under my responsibility (kind of like being the "design engineer for the whole car").

Some of the products birthed under my watchful eye while in this capacity were the 2001 GMC Denali, the 2002 Cadillac Escalade, the 2003 Chevy/GMC pickup, the 2007 Chevy/GMC and Cadillac SUVs, the 2008 Hummer H2 (I actually wrote the original engineering plan for what became the H2) and, for the last 4 years, the 2011/2012/2013/2014 Chevy Volt, Opel Ampera and Holden Volt. So - it's been a fun ride and I have particularly enjoyed the cross functional relationships (working with Product Planning, Purchasing, Marketing, Service, Product Recalls - ok, maybe not, Material Logistics, etc) and being the "go to" guy for options, vehicle complexity and understanding how the car goes together.

Starting Monday I will be a design engineer in the Underbody Structures group (floor pan and front of dash), once again with the truck group. It will be nice working with my old truck buds, and I think it will be somewhat liberating to only be responsible for one series of parts (and not the whole car). Initially I will be helping the group get better organized: developing the part number permutations/tracking, assisting in getting new parts released and on contract with the suppliers, and interfacing with the Program Teams (the people in my current job). Once we are through that hurdle they'll have to train this old dog on how to use all those fancy computers to actually design a part and start bending some metal.

I might even have a little more free time and be able to take some vacations during the summer, enjoying my old car and old truck hobby My wife is already making vacation plans to fill up this additional free time she thinks I am going to have...

K