Gateway to a new era for GAZ
By Christopher Ludwig2012-04-01T15:10:00
Bo Andersson has been leading a remarkable turnaround and a tough restructuring at Russia’s GAZ Group, with a significant focus on improving supply chain management and logistics. Christopher Ludwig presents a pertinent example of how logistics can provide a competitive advantage in Russia.
When Bo Andersson stepped down as group vice president, purchasing and supply chain, at General Motors in 2009, he left a carmaker in the midst of bankruptcy and a government bailout to become the president and CEO of Russia’s GAZ Group, a manufacturer of light commercial vehicles (LCVs), trucks, buses and components owned by Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element group.
Andersson did not go from one carmaker in crisis to another on the rise. In 2008, as Russia’s sales boom went bust, GAZ lost more than 30 billion roubles ($1 billion at contemporary exchange rates). It owed hundreds of millions of dollars to suppliers and revenue was in freefall, dropping 54% in 2009. The company also had serious structural issues, from painfully high warranty costs to a woefully inefficient workforce of around 90,000.