[VIDEO] Corvette Assembly Plant Update with Kai Spande from the 2023 NCM Bash

The National Corvette Museum today released the video from the 2023 NCM Bash featuring Kai Spande who gave the annual Bowling Green Assembly Plant update. Over the years, these discussions have generally focused on one aspect of the manufacturing process and this seminar gives us a better look at what happens inside the Corvette’s body shop.

The Corvette Body Shop is one of the areas not available to view on the tour due to the work that is done there, and of the 1200 employees that work at the facility, only 32 are assigned to the Body Shop area. There are 155 robots that work in the body shop and Kai shows off several videos of how they work and what they do.

The Corvette’s frame is made completely from aluminum with the exception of the carbon fiber bumper beam that is installed on the rear of the car. Over the course of a day’s assembly, there are 85,632 screws used in the body structure with the team claiming a success rate of 99.96% of those being shot without fault or repair needed.

In addition to the screws, the team uses spot welding, self-piercing rivets, laser welding and structural adhesive. In a C8 Coupe, there is 72.4 meters of adhesive used while 69.4 meters of adhesive are used in the C8 HTC.

Quality plays a major role in the assembly of the frame. All frames are reviewed in a “quality gate” by a technician who evaluates the body. Chevrolet also mandates that these completed frames are audited with a deconstruction process that selects a completed frame and then its reviewed to ensure the screws, adhesive application and welds all meet the set standards. These audited frames are then discarded.

Kai also tells the crowd about a tradition that happens in the body shop. The shop’s motto is MMM$: Moving Metal Makes Money. When the team reaches their daily goals, one of the members sounds a victory horn.

The completed frames are then set through an Electro Coat Paint Operation for anti-rust treatment and prep for the composite installations. The frames take a ride to the ELPO station which is near the paint show, and Kai says it’s about a half-mile trip to go there and back. After a few more stations, the frame goes through a final quality gate inspection before heading to general assembly.

Kai also spoke briefly about the 2024 Corvette E-Ray, saying that saleable builds began the week of the Bash. A Saleable VIN car is one that usually is built during pre-preproduction but it no longer carries and EX-VIN. Once GM is done with the CFT car, it can be auctioned to its dealer network and the dealers can sell it as pre-owned. Kai showed some of the E-Rays getting built, and said that the spots for special E-Ray build functions like the battery install were mapped out when the plant was reconfigured for the C8, but they just skipped past that point until now.

Of course, one of the biggest pieces of news was saved for the end, when Kai announced that he had taken GM’s generous Buy-Out offer and will be retiring on July 31st after eight years of being the Director for the Corvette Assembly Plant.

Source:
National Corvette Museum / YouTube

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