NUMMI Welcomes New Vice President; Ernesto Gonzalez-Beltran Spent 17 Years at Ford

    FREMONT, Calif.--Oct. 10. 2002--Ernesto Gonzalez-Beltran was recently named vice president at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. Gonzalez-Beltran spent 17 years with Ford Motor Company, most recently as assistant director of Manufacturing Operations at the Vehicle Operations General Office in Dearborn, Michigan. There he led the implementation of a lean manufacturing strategy to launch two vehicle programs and a supplier manufacturing campus.
    A broad range of experience in previous positions includes everything from design and development to manufacturing and marketing. He was Plant Manager at assembly plants in St. Paul, Minn.; Edison, NJ; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has also held executive positions at stamping and assembly plants in Wayne, Mich., and Hermosillo, Mexico.
    Gonzalez-Beltran reports to NUMMI President Kanji Ishii and will transition into the VP of Manufacturing role currently held by Steve St. Angelo, who has been on loan from General Motors for the past year.
    Gonzalez-Beltran has a chemical engineering degree and an MBA from the Technological Institute of Sonora, Mexico. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. He and his wife, Ana, will be moving to Pleasanton with their two daughters.
    Ethos Consulting Firm of San Francisco assisted NUMMI in filling this position.
    NUMMI is the joint venture of Toyota and GM. Located in Fremont, Calif., it employs 5,500 team members and produces about 360,000 vehicles annually. NUMMI builds the Toyota Corolla, Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Tacoma for the North American market and exports the Toyota Voltz to Japan.