Having suppliers involved as partners earlier in the engineering process helps reduce lead time and improves quality for our customers. GM also will be able to design more cost-effective vehicles for customers that will provide additional environmental benefits and better fuel economy. |
It all ties into the transformation of General Motors from a brick-and-mortar company to a brick-and-click. OTD [order-to-delivery] will transform our company. |
Our logistics organization will become smaller but significantly more strategic, with time spent on visioning other type of strategic technology needs as we develop more customer-centered build-to-order systems. |
The problem is we can't afford to take 11 to 12 days to get a car to a customer. |
There are thousands of vehicles around the world in transit going to dealers for inventory. If we get a specific configuration request from a customer and can match that to a car en route to a dealer, we can relocate that vehicle from the point it is going to, to where the customer is. That would be a major part of the process of a build-to-order environment. |