GM has announced the retirement of Gerald Johnson, the automaker’s vice president of Global Manufacturing and Sustainability. Johnson will leave General Motors at the end of 2024 after a 44-year career with the automaker. Johnson will be replaced by Jens Peter (JP) Clausen, who brings experience as an industrial leader with an expertise in global manufacturing, product engineering, and scaling operations.
General Motors vice president of Global Manufacturing and Sustainability, Gerald Johnson
Johnson is recognized for playing a crucial role in strengthening General Motors’ manufacturing and labor relations, as well as ushering in a cultural transformation at the automaker that emphasized leadership, waste elimination, process discipline, and continuous improvement, while also advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Johnson also spent a considerable amount of time on the floor of production facilities and was known for frequently saying, “Every day in a plant is a good day.”
“Gerald’s leadership, vision and relentless pursuit of excellence in manufacturing have left an indelible mark on GM,” said company CEO Mary Barra. “His impactful journey from joining the Fisher Body Plant in Euclid, Ohio, to his integral role in GM’s COVID-19 emergency response, is a testament to his unwavering commitment and dedication. We are immensely grateful for his over four decades of service and congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement.”
JP Clausen
With Johnson’s retirement, JP Clausen will take on the role of leading General Motors Global Manufacturing and Sustainability. Clausen brings extensive experience in global manufacturing and innovation from his previous roles, including significant achievements at Tesla, Zymergen, Lego, and Google Data Centers.
At Tesla, Clausen led the rapid scaling of EV propulsion systems at the EV producer’s Gigafactory 1, while at Zymergen, Clausen helped to automate gene manufacturing and fermentation technology for sustainable materials. Clausen also led a financial turnaround at Lego through production simplification and revisions to the component portfolio. Finally, Clausen served as vice president of Engineering at Google Data Centers, where he helped to drive technological innovation, process optimization, and product development.
“JP’s unique expertise in global manufacturing innovation, engineering, and operations will accelerate our ability to deliver on our vision for GM with the highest quality vehicles for our customers,” said General Motors CEO Barra. “We are excited to welcome him to the team and know that his contributions will be instrumental to our future.”
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Comments
Next, needs to be Supply Chain. GM needs better quality suppliers and products.
Gerald Johnson
Mr unallocated.
POS.
5 years after he ‘unallocated’ lordstown, Baltimore and Warren plants people are still waiting for a conclusion to these closings.
Go take a long walk of a short pier.
He was a good man. during the time when he working at VP, GM Korea can save from the Mary Barra’s wicked restructuring…
He was not a good man to his employees at lordstown Baltimore and Warren when he unallocated them.
Evaluations are relative, pal. at least he was ‘good man’ in GMK workers like me…
‘Cinderellas stepsisters’? What a sarcasm. That’s a insult about GM Korea labor union. say about tragedy in America before, you should learn what happened in Gunsan and Bupyeong in 2018.
I don’t care what the scab ‘union’ workers do in Korea. Why don’t you keep those GM vehicles in Korea and stop shipping them to America. POS Gerald no doubt had a hand in offshoring American work to foreigners. If you like him so much you can keep him in Korea.
That’s funniest comment I’ve ever read. keep going on, loser.
Nothing funny about it Gerald.
Wow. Looks like GM authority deleted my factual comments. I didn’t realize that if I write something negative against the point of the article it is erased.
At war, there’s no right or wrong. Winner’s right while loser’s wrong. What a factual comments, duh
Headed 2 disastrous contract negotiations in a row. Suddenly he’s a kind gentle grandpa who’s ready to settle down and give family his attention. LoL! They may not portray his departure as a firing, but it certainly should be one.