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General Motors Supply Chain Essay

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Introduction Over the years, the U. S. auto industry's market has been experiencing fluctuations due to many reasons including: price, quality and foreign competition. General Motors Corporation (GM) which had been the leading car and truck manufacturer had been experiencing declining market share and facing stiff competition from both U.S manufacturers and foreign imports such as the Asian auto producers that included Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The main reason for increased foreign competition was that foreign cars were more fuel efficient, smaller, less expensive, and often more reliable than their American counterparts. In an effort to eliminate waste and maintain competitive advantages, GM introduced lean manufacturing by …show more content…

This could only be possible by creating and leveraging strategic global partnerships to bring new vehicles and technologies to customers faster. The Global Purchasing and Supply Chain division was responsible for streamlining the supply chain and the year 2013 was a good one for the U.S. automotive market as sales rose 7.6 percent to 15.6 million vehicles. This is a substantial comeback from the levels of 2009-2010 when severe recession forced the bankruptcy of General Motors and other automobile companies and caused many other automakers to lose revenue and profits hence reducing labor and operation costs by massive worker layoffs and downsizing by closing manufacturing plants. Furthermore the U.S. market is now the target for most of the globe’s auto makers since the economy is steadily improving and consumers are much more inclined to replace or buy a new vehicle with the latest estimates for auto sales in 2014 expected to reach the 16 million vehicle range. However, finished goods inventories management is still a big problem and many automotive OEM’s such as GM are now considering even more investments in added capacity. The North American production capacity is currently being used not only to serve the domestic market but to boost supply for the export markets as well. Common platform design strategies and sophisticated levels of plant automation allow GM to

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