The new world order (for transmissions).

• Author: Combs, Veronica
• Position: World Transmission from Allison Transmission Division of General Motors Corp. - Product Announcement

As the competition for international business heats up, Indianapolis-based Allison Transmission Division of General Motors Corp. is looking to stay in the hunt with its World Transmission, an innovative heavy-duty truck transmission.

This latest product is part of Allison's strategy to maintain its position as one of the world's leading producers of automatic transmissions for both commercial and military vehicles. The eight-year, $300 million project culminated in September with the opening of the first WT manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, where the first unit rolled off the assembly line.

This project tackled the tasks of increasing the foreign market, boosting product quality and improving relations with labor and customers by asking for and considering their input. Feedback from current and prospective customers played a large part in the development of the World Transmission.

In designing the WT, Allison's marketing representatives contacted more than 20 truck and bus manufacturers in North America, 17 vehicle manufacturers in Japan and several end users in each major sales area. More than 80 percent of the 100-plus suggestions for improving the WT were designed into the product.

Management also involved employees in the design process. Hourly employees worked with managers to plan the project in a cooperative labor-management setup.

At the project's inception, the division had only 1.4 percent of the overseas transmission market, and Allison had only one office with one executive in Japan, one of the...