Kyle Bland

- Responsibility to manage a product portfolio consisting of Chevrolet, Buick and GMC SUVs, Mid-Sized Trucks, and the BrightDrop EV Delivery Vehicle Canadian market needs and specific country requirements within the Global Product Development Process and the execution of future vehicle programs. - Lead program reviews on future vehicle planning and packaging to ensure vehicle competitiveness. - Create, communicate and manage Canadian specific market intent documents for each model identifying Canadian market offering variances from US product offering. -Provide input on the development of strategies for products based on short and medium term market forecast requirements. - Support in the development of long-term volume plan for assigned portfolios. - Interface with Legal and Government relations to provide technical information required to understand the implications of government policy changes on GM vehicle plans. - Ensure that all creative marketing materials adhere to brand guidelines and include accurate product information. - Conduct market research and analyze data to gain marketing insights and uncover key consumer insights and competitive opportunities.

- Support dealership service management as a trusted advisor to ensure Service Policies and Procedures requirements are met while improving the customer experience. - Execute business plans with district dealership service management to eliminate waste and achieve policy metrics. - Development and coaching of standard work processes within dealerships to ensure repeatability and accuracy for customer satisfaction and vehicle safety. - Assist dealership service management with compliance to warranty labor rates and minimum technical training standards. - Act as a conduit between the dealership and GM Customer Care to resolve difficult and/or complicated customer cases. - Improve customer retention through standard work processes, warranty policy, CSI, and training.

- Execute and track manufacturing launch plans for quality ensuring deliverables are met for the K2 HD truck program launch at Oshawa Assembly. - Managed the implementation of GM-GMS principal execution into the assembly plant launch quality systems. - Launch process validation of manufacturing systems and presentation of program quality readiness reviews. - Single point of contact for quality launch process and program inquiries. - Shipping yard management for quality assurance campaigns.

- Responsible for auditing compliance to internal process control and quality assurance in body-in-white (body shop), paint shop, and general assembly. - Assessment of processes control plans to ensure that methods and tolerance specifications are properly evaluated by suppliers and inspection technicians. - Audit reaction plan and corrective action documentation for all non-conformance items noted during internal assessments. - Documentation of analysis and implemented corrective actions for internal and external ISO auditing requirements. - Process audits to ensure there is capability to meet quality standards and design intent. - Implementation and review of in process and final vehicle inspection product quality standards; audit for conformance. - Developed and executed continuous improvement initiatives; directly responsible for direct run rate improvement and cost savings activities. - Provided process technical support for body-in-white (body shop), paint shop, and general assembly.

- Analyze data from field safety, warranty, and performance issues at the overall vehicle and individual component level to determine trends and plant controllable issues. - Unprecedented integrity for product safety concerns, ensuring a safety culture within the workplace and beyond. - Primary contact for plant field safety concerns for both in service and developmental vehicles. - Responsible for conducting field contacts to ascertain additional technical information to develop problem definition and corrective actions. - Collaborate with product engineering for implementation of permanent corrective actions in both process and design to eliminate repeat occurrences of non-conforming components. - Extensive operations knowledge and critical thinking skills enabling accurate interpretation of data that I have developed into technical understanding for process controllable concerns. - Consistent data reporting and analysis to increase performance reliability and drive continuous improvement read-across activities throughout the General Motors enterprise. - Analyze technical trends of components at a sub systems level driving root-cause analysis, continuous improvement, and permanent corrective actions based on time in service duration. - Provides technical data analysis for overall vehicle performance for multiple product lines including customer oriented survey data from third party sources such as JD Power and Ipsos Research Compass reporting.

- Progressed though increasing levels of responsibility in Final Assembly managing production output, final line and complex direct run rate/quality, while focusing on overall business metrics. - Planning and oversight for over 250 hourly/Unifor represented employees. - Orchestrated annual hazardous material training, championing safe lockout and test procedures. - Developed pre task plans with team member involvement and enforced safe operating procedures when dealing with all non-standardized operations or potentially intrusive work hazards when interacting with equipment and processes. - Responsible for safety inspection and review of process areas. - Provided oversight, mentorship, and guidance to hourly and first line managerial team members. - Yearly evaluation of team members and leaders for core business competencies also identifying new avenues of learning opportunities for employee development. - Responsible for supporting and maintaining all area problem solving activities and preventative maintenance. - Management of monthly Business Plan metrics for each team to achieve and support actionable countermeasures if goals are not attained by incorporating core business fundamentals. - Organizes daily team meetings to debrief on key issues and metrics in including safety concerns, personnel planning, training, and metric performance. - Provided training for new hires on Global Manufacturing Systems and lean methodology in the Oshawa complex paint shop.

- Steered a project team comprised of team members alongside product and process engineering through manufacturing system design and implementation ensuring minimal impact and integration into current operating processes while maintaining an absolute safety focus for chassis and final assembly. - Accomplished zero safety incidents during successful integration of new equipment, process, and standardized work into the existing production operations. - Resolution of concerns through early risk assessment and corrective actions prior to commissioning and start of regular production. - Streamlined integration through strategic development of assembly processes, workforce and workstations. - Developed a comprehensive training program on all new processes and vehicle technologies.