Dave Hansen, the former executive director of General Motors Fleet & Commercial Operations, will retire from GM March 31 after a 35-year career with the auto manufacturer. Hansen has been named chief operating officer (COO) of Tecstar, a division of Starcraft Corp. Tecstar is a second stage manufacturer for General Motors.
Prior to retiring from GM, Hansen’s last position with General Motors was implementation leader for GM Global Manufacturing System (GMS) for the North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing (VSSM) organization. GMS, or "lean manufacturing", is being used to reduce costs throughout GM. The post was a newly created position, which Hansen assumed March 1, 2003. Tecstar works with auto manufacturers to engineer and develop second stage vehicles for low volume, niche markets. One of the first vehicles engineered and developed by Tecstar was the Chevrolet S-10 Extreme. Tecstar is headquartered in Troy and has four plants in the U.S. and one in Canada, most being located close to a GM production facility. Hansen joined General Motors in 1965 after graduating from high school, working in a GM assembly plant during the summer while attending college. Following graduation from college with an engineering degree, Hansen worked 35 years for General Motors.