GM's Barra Helps Kettering Swear In New President, Touts Auto Future
FLINT -- A 1985 graduate of Flint's General Motors Institute -- today, Kettering University -- returned to campus Friday to kick off a daylong celebration marking the inauguration of the univeristy's new president, Robert McMahan.
Mary T. Barra, senior vice president for global product development at General Motors Inc., told 550 students, alumni and community members that change was the only constant in both the automotive world and the rest of business.
"One of the few constants in this world is change, and if you don't keep pace with it, you'll be history yourself," Barra said.
She noted that when Charles "Boss" Kettering, the GM executive for whom the school is named, was born, the transcontinental railroad was only 7 years old, goods were three times more like to move on sailing ships than steamships, and the practical automobile had not yet been invented.
Barra noted that the time from invention to mass market of new technology keeps shrinking -- from 112 years for photography to 56 years for the automobile to 35 years to the radio to 12 years to the TV to 5 years for the transistor. That's only going to continue, she said.
She said the automotive industry is "just at the start of a revolution" of change, especially in powertrains. She said current figures show that in just the next six years, there will be demand for an additional 12 million cars to be produced in Brazil, Russia, India and China. And current figures show "we will need 70 percent more energy in 2030 than in 2003. My conclusion from these figures is that we will not be able to supply the world's rapidly growing energy requirements with oil alone. We simply must develop alternative sources of propulsion, alternative sources of energy. That's a huge assignment and a huge opportunity."
And she said Kettering is producing just the right kind of graduates to meet that challenge.
"I still believe the skills Kettering students learn -- critical thinking, problem solving, communication, analysis, and above all practical real world experience -- are critical for success in tomorrow's world and in defining tomorrow's leaders," Barra said.
Between Barra's speech and McMahan's formal swearing-in, Kettering faculty showed off some 60 projects and research efforts in biology, alternative energy, sporting goods and more.
