Opening of Diver Consolidated Industries Instrument Panel Beam Line

SYDNEY – April 19, 2013: Holden is pleased to support the opening of Melbourne based supplier, Diver Consolidated Industries’ (DCI), new Instrument Panel (IP) Beam line.

The state of the art production line which will manufacture aluminium IP Beams for VF Commodore was officially opened by GM International Operations VP Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, Johnny Saldanha, and DCI Chief Executive Officer, Jim Griffin, at a ceremony held at DCI’s Reservoir operations earlier today.

Speaking at the event, Mr Saldanha said Holden’s partnership with DCI to develop the IP Beam demonstrates Holden’s underlying commitment to advanced manufacturing and the local supplier base.

“Holden has spent on average $1.75 billion each year over the last 12 years to Australian supplier businesses such as DCI and invests hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development activities. The opening of DCI’s new line shows this is a good investment in Australia’s automotive future.”

Greg Tyus, Holden’s Executive Director of Engineering, speaking about the development of the new IP Beam said: “We presented Diver with a concept for an all-aluminium IP Beam, one of the first GM vehicles to replace the traditional steel beam with aluminium, and they rose to the challenge. DCI engineers took that concept and then worked with us to develop a feasible engineering and manufacturing solution.

“The aluminium IP Beam we came up with has several key benefits over previous Commodore IP Beams; its lightweight aluminium construction removes 4.4kg from the weight of the vehicle and the new design increases the stiffness of the beam which provides better support to the steering column and instrument panel.

“The weight savings obtained by switching to aluminium will help improve VF Commodore's fuel efficiency (further details of VF Commodore weight savings will be revealed closer to the launch).”

DCI CEO, Jim Griffin, said he was pleased DCI was able to come up with an advanced manufacturing solution to meet Holden’s needs.

“This is a proud day for DCI. We produced components for the first 48-215 that rolled off the production line 65 years ago and now we’re producing a state of the art IP Beam for the most technologically-advanced car ever created in Australia, and we’re part of the GM global supply chain.”