All GM articles
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FeatureGM withdraws from JV with Uzbek government
General Motors has sold off its remaining stake in the GM Uzbekistan joint venture to state-owned company Uzavtosanoat, which held the majority stake in the company. GM Uzbekistan makes Ravon and Chevrolet vehicles at its plant in Asaka.Uzavtosanoat held a 75% stake in the company from 2008 but increased that ...
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FeatureFCA combines purchasing and supply chain in new roles
Carl Smiley (pictured) has moved from electronics supplier TE Connectivity to take the newly created role of chief purchasing and supply chain officer at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). At the same time, Scott Thiele adds head of supply chain in North America to his responsibilities as head of purchasing for ...
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FeatureQ&A: Neuton Karassawa
Can you give an overview of GM’s logistics activities in Brazil, and your own responsibilities?The scope of my function in the region is to handle the inbound pieces and materials, such as local inbound flows from overseas to South America. I [also] manage outbound flows from the factories to customers ...
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FeatureStepping up the pace
When Groupe PSA bought Opel/Vauxhall from GM in 2017 for €2.2 billion ($2.33 billion), Gefco was already providing logistics services for it. Then, when Opel/Vauxhall renewed its contract for fourth-party logistics (4PL) services with Gefco in October 2018 for a further four years, Gefco was tasked with finding further cost ...
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FeatureGM to close seven plants next year
GM has announced it will close three of its North American assembly plants next year along with two transmission plants, resulting in the loss of over 14,000 jobs. It also has plans to shut two additional plants outside North America by the end of 2019, following this year’s closure of ...
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FeatureHow industry 4.0 will disrupt automotive supply chains
From Henry Ford’s assembly line to the emergence of electric cars decades later, the automotive industry has always been defined by change and industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution – is poised to bring the next big wave.Having already taken over the manufacturing space, this surge of automation and ...
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FeatureGM poised to sell St Petersburg plant
US carmaker GM is close to selling its plant in St Petersburg to another automotive manufacturer, with the final agreement due to be signed at the end of this year. According to Sergey Movchan, deputy governor of St Petersburg, the new owner plans to revive finished vehicle assembly at the ...
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FeatureBigger vehicles, bigger challenges
Last year, GM sold around 3m vehicles in the US, with roughly 775,000 imported from Canada and Mexico and the rest coming from around the world, mainly from South Korea, China and Europe. Combining deep-sea and short-sea volumes, the carmaker used seaports to receive close to 200,000 vehicles into the ...
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FeatureUS announces tentative deal with Mexico
Following a year of renegotiations over the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the US administration has this week outlined the basics of a new bilateral agreement with Mexico on trade in agriculture and manufactured goods, including finished vehicles and automotive parts.The move follows President Trump’s rejection of the existing ...
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FeatureManta reports huge increase in vehicle traffic
The port of Manta, in northern Ecuador, has reported a doubling in the volume of finished vehicles it handled over the first seven months of this year to 42,056 units, compared to 20,691 units in the same period last year.Roberto Salazar, president of Manta Port Terminals (TPM) – the private ...
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FeatureSuape to put vehicle terminal in private hands
A public consultation has begun over plans for a new concession to run the finished vehicle terminal at the north-western Brazilian Port of Suape. The National Waterways Transport Agency (Antaq), the port authority currently running the terminal, plans to issue a tender for the concession in early September. The consultation ...
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FeatureDana McBrien takes lead role at AutoSphere
Dana McBrien (pictured) has moved from his role as associate chief advisor at Honda North America to become ‘guiding architect’ for AutoSphere, a digital supply chain system (previously referred to as the Automotive Supply Chain Data Ecosystem) developed by US information technology and packaging specialist, Surgere.McBrien worked for Honda for ...
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FeatureBattling a perfect storm
The finished vehicle sector in North America is dealing with a lot of challenges at the moment. There is a basic imbalance in the number of vehicles that the US imports and exports with its global trading partners, which contributes to ongoing problems involving congestion and limited capacity on hinterland ...
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FeatureVehicle makers grapple with cost of trade wars
Carmakers are faced with shifting production, higher purchase costs, lower profits and the possibility of raising the price of their products as a consequence of the continuing global trade conflict.Volvo Cars of Sweden is shifting production of its XC60 SUV for the US market from China to Europe to avoid ...
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FeatureReaping the benefits of collaborating on containers
When an OEM orders parts from its tier suppliers, it can find itself with limited visibility over just where containers of parts are within the supply chain and how soon they will arrive. Tracing containers can be a complex business – and if a problem does occur, the vehicle-maker needs ...
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FeatureSeeking to harmonise supply and demand
In May, supply chain specialist Kinaxis announced that Volvo Cars had chosen its software for work on volume forecasting and production planning. According to Kinaxis, the Swedish carmaker will use its RapidResponse software to model the impact of rising production volumes, as well as other ‘what-if?’ scenarios. Accurate forecasting will ...
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FeatureWhen will services be back on track?
The state of the rail freight service in the US has been a leading topic of conversation for several months within vehicle supply chains, with discussions still ongoing between OEMs and rail providers. Questions around the availability of capacity and transit delays that have disrupted the timing of finished vehicle ...
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FeatureAfrica awakes
Africa’s vehicle production and distribution sector still trails much of the rest of the world, but the signs are that this is beginning to change
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FeatureUzbek government to buy GM’s stake in joint venture
Uzbek state-owned vehicle-maker, UzAvtosanoat, is looking to buy GM’s remaining 10% stake in the joint venture it has with the US carmaker – GM Uzbekistan.The buyout is expected to be complete by the end of the year and follows UzAvtosanoat increasing its original 75% stake in the joint venture to ...
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FeatureCarmakers and suppliers collaborate on containers
Honda, Toyota, GM, Nissan and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have joined forces with 12 medium to large tier suppliers, two logistics providers and the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) on a data system providing accurate visibility over returnable containers at every stage of their movement between supplier and OEM.The Automotive ...