Planting Partnerships: Growing with General Motors

Over the past 90 years, JP Cullen has had an intricate history with General Motors (GM). Beginning in 1919, JP Cullen was awarded the original build for Samson Tractor Company, the predecessor of General Motors. Since then, JP Cullen has remodeled 3 million square feet of the plant.

In 1990, GM had the revolutionary idea for a space that would allow customers to see exactly how the vehicles they were buying were being made. The company brought on JP Cullen to create the Product Review Conference Center that not only allowed customers to see how their trucks were built but to observe the finished product roll off the assembly line as well.

In 2005, GM expanded and upgraded once again with 100,000 square feet of installations of a brand-new body shop and tool installation. This new body shop included robotics, tools, and other fixtures for the GMT 900 SUV productions. This work was separated into four production shutdowns strategically timed to maximize efficiency both for JP Cullen and GM.

Throughout the course of JP Cullen’s partnership with General Motors, there have been countless other projects preformed from maintenance to other expansions and modifications. Many of the leaders JP Cullen has had over the years and still has have once been employees of General Motors bringing with them the great GM work ethic and ways to streamline production.

The growth of JP Cullen can be attributed in part to this partnership as many valuable lessons and processes were learned. These lessons are ones we still use today especially in terms of planning work, implementing safety processes, and meeting aggressive schedules during plant shutdowns.