Canadian Regional Engineering Centre

The Canadian Regional Engineering Centre (CREC) of General Motors Canada Ltd. is located in Oshawa, Ontario, next to the plant which builds midsize cars. The CREC opened in 2001 and represented a significant growth in the scope of engineering done in Canada by GM. Previously, the engineering team in Oshawa focused on making improvements to the vehicles currently in production, and the team was less than 50 engineers. After three years of growth and the construction of the CREC building, the organization grew to over 500, and work was focused on designing future products such as the next generation Chevy Equinox, built in Ingersoll, Ontario, as well as supporting the highly rated car and truck plants alongside CREC in Oshawa. In addition, teams within CREC work in the areas of alternative fuels, hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles. In 2008, CREC's focus began changing, and its size reducing, due to contractions in GM's workforce in general, and the rise in the Canadian dollar. Over the past year, the engineering staff has been cut dramatically, several times, in response to the shift in focus from mainstream vehicle development to advanced technology work (ATW). The total reduction reached more than 60% in June 2009, leaving a workforce of about 150 concentrated in various areas of ATW and heavily linked with Canadian government-supported programs such as the Automotive Innovation Network (AIN).

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